Chancellor delays Capital Gains Tax decision until New Year

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced that he is still considering consultations with various parties on the government's plans for a new capital gains tax regime and will therefore not publish his revised plans until the New Year. The announcement follows a previous undertaking that he would publish revised proposals before Christmas.

The current CGT regime means that basic rate taxpayers who have held shares in their employer for at least 2 years are only subject to a 5% CGT charge. The Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report outlined changes that would mean that these employee shareholders would have to pay an additional 13% tax on any gain above £9,200 from April 2008.

ifs ProShare, an organisation that seeks to promote the benefits of employee share ownership, argued that this would mean employees who have contributed to the