The Chancellor's Autumn statement was given on 3 December 2014. Relevant aspects include the following:
- The government plans to put in place legislation that will cause all returns through B share schemes to be taxed in the same way as dividends; and
- Section 641 of the Companies Act 2006 will be amended to prohibit the use of "reduction" or "cancellation" schemes of arrangement in company takeovers, (where a reduction of capital takes place as part of the scheme of arrangement (under which the bidder acquires the target) for the purposes of avoiding a stamp duty charge on the takeover).
The Autumn statement is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/382327/44695_Accessible.pdf.
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