http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7131150.stm
The government is proposing new laws to stop some husband-and-wife businesses cutting their tax bills by sharing their income as dividends.
Earlier this year HM Revenue & Customs lost a test case in the Lords when it tried to challenge the tax arrangements of Geoff and Diana Jones.
The couple's IT consultancy, trading as Artic Systems, had successfully avoided paying £50,000 in income tax.
The government argued that the "income splitting" involved was artificial.
"The government believes that the fairness of the income tax system is undermined if some individuals are able to dissociate themselves from income that they would have received in order that the income is taxed in the hands of another individual at a lower rate," said the Treasury.
"The [new] legislation would apply only where a tax advantage is gained through non-commercial arrangements and where the shifted income is in the form of a company distribution or share of partnership profits," it added.
Pay up, every penny needed to prop up a dying country.
The government is proposing new laws to stop some husband-and-wife businesses cutting their tax bills by sharing their income as dividends.
Earlier this year HM Revenue & Customs lost a test case in the Lords when it tried to challenge the tax arrangements of Geoff and Diana Jones.
The couple's IT consultancy, trading as Artic Systems, had successfully avoided paying £50,000 in income tax.
The government argued that the "income splitting" involved was artificial.
"The government believes that the fairness of the income tax system is undermined if some individuals are able to dissociate themselves from income that they would have received in order that the income is taxed in the hands of another individual at a lower rate," said the Treasury.
"The [new] legislation would apply only where a tax advantage is gained through non-commercial arrangements and where the shifted income is in the form of a company distribution or share of partnership profits," it added.
Pay up, every penny needed to prop up a dying country.
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