Statutory residence test

The government has published draft legislation for Finance Bill 2013 and a tax policy update outlining key proposals including introduction of a GAAR, rules for above the line R&D credit and new residency and domicile rules.

At the same time, following a number of consultations conducted since the last Budget, the government is publishing response to these consultations alongside draft legislation to be included in Finance Bill 2013.

In a written statement, Treasury secretary David Gauke, said: ‘This fulfils our objective to confirm the majority of intended tax changes at least three months ahead of publication. Draft legislation will be open for technical consultation until 6 February 2013.'

Details of the clauses published today are set out in the Overview of Legislation in Draft (OLD) document, which also includes Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs) for each measure. All publications will be available on both the Treasury and HMRC websites. The government is publishing draft legislation on policies announced at Budget 2012, including:

• A General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR), to target abusive tax avoidance schemes;

• An ‘above the line’ R&D credit to encourage investment in research and development;

• Introducing a statutory residence test, abolishing ordinary residence and eliminating the concept of ‘ordinary residence’ for tax purposes as far as possible;

• Corporation tax reliefs to encourage investment in the production of animation, high-end television and video games; and

• A package of property tax policies including a new annual residential property tax to be payable by certain non-natural persons that own interests in dwellings valued at more than £2m, and an extension of the capital gains tax regime to non-residential non-natural persons disposing of interests in UK residential property valued at over £2m. The capital gains tax will be payable only on gains accruing on or after 6 April 2013. For consistency, the government is considering extending the CGT regime to also apply to disposals of high value residential property by UK NNPs. The government would welcome views on the impact and implementation of this potential change by 18 January 2013.

The Overview of Legislation in Draft (OLD) is available on the Treasury website , clickHERE