The Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA), a membership organisation championing the interests of small to mid-size quoted companies, called on the chancellor to boost long-term investment in the crucial growth-company sector by curbing ‘arbitrary’ tax rules in the upcoming Autumn Statement.
The Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA), a membership organisation championing the interests of small to mid-size quoted companies, called on the chancellor to boost long-term investment in the crucial growth-company sector by curbing ‘arbitrary’ tax rules in the upcoming Autumn Statement.
In particular, the QCA urges George Osborne to remove the 5% threshold for entrepreneurs’ relief on capital gains tax in respect of shares held by employees and officers, so as ‘to encourage wider employee share ownership and align employee and management goals in driving growth’. It said that any cost to the exchequer would be at least partially funded by employees exercising unapproved share options – generating a large PAYE and NIC receipt – as they attempt to qualify for the 12-month share holding period, which the QCA is proposing.
The QCA also suggested promoting wider employee share ownership by ‘relaxing the requirements of the company share option plan (CSOP) and incentivising long-term investment by reinstating the dividend tax credit for those pension funds that back growth companies’, and said that the cost of raising equity should be tax deductible.
‘With bank finance still in short supply, the ability of small and mid-size quoted companies to obtain and maintain funding for economic growth is a crucial issue for the UK economy,’ said Tim Ward, QCA’s chief executive officer. ‘Our proposals are simply designed to help inspire private sector growth and employment. We want to see more of the changes suggested by the Office of Tax Simplification implemented in order to achieve the end goal of a simpler and more effective tax system.’
The Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA), a membership organisation championing the interests of small to mid-size quoted companies, called on the chancellor to boost long-term investment in the crucial growth-company sector by curbing ‘arbitrary’ tax rules in the upcoming Autumn Statement.
The Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA), a membership organisation championing the interests of small to mid-size quoted companies, called on the chancellor to boost long-term investment in the crucial growth-company sector by curbing ‘arbitrary’ tax rules in the upcoming Autumn Statement.
In particular, the QCA urges George Osborne to remove the 5% threshold for entrepreneurs’ relief on capital gains tax in respect of shares held by employees and officers, so as ‘to encourage wider employee share ownership and align employee and management goals in driving growth’. It said that any cost to the exchequer would be at least partially funded by employees exercising unapproved share options – generating a large PAYE and NIC receipt – as they attempt to qualify for the 12-month share holding period, which the QCA is proposing.
The QCA also suggested promoting wider employee share ownership by ‘relaxing the requirements of the company share option plan (CSOP) and incentivising long-term investment by reinstating the dividend tax credit for those pension funds that back growth companies’, and said that the cost of raising equity should be tax deductible.
‘With bank finance still in short supply, the ability of small and mid-size quoted companies to obtain and maintain funding for economic growth is a crucial issue for the UK economy,’ said Tim Ward, QCA’s chief executive officer. ‘Our proposals are simply designed to help inspire private sector growth and employment. We want to see more of the changes suggested by the Office of Tax Simplification implemented in order to achieve the end goal of a simpler and more effective tax system.’
