By Malcolm Finney
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“What I like most about the book is its readability; it guides the reader through various tax matters ranging from the most simple to some very complex areas…The whole approach is one of order and simplicity” Taxation, December 2010
“As a practising solicitor and tax adviser this book therefore plays to my strengths (or is it weaknesses?) – where I don’t have the answer this book does…I would say it should have a prominent place on your bookshelf, but mine rarely seems to find its way off the desk” Lee Young, Partner, Frettens,TaxationWeb, 2010
“The general personal tax practitioner is forever looking for that holy grail of reference books that explains complex tax planning in a straightforward and practical way. This book must surely be near the top of the list…Above all, it helps to unravel complex issues in a straightforward and pragmatic way that can be referred to time and time again.” Teresa Tone, Taxline, 2011
Personal Tax Planning: Principles and Practice addresses the major UK tax issues affecting personal tax planning for both the UK domiciled and non-UK domiciled individual. With numerous worked practical examples throughout, it explains the principles underpinning the three main taxes: income tax; capital gains tax; and inheritance tax. Domicile is given extended treatment due to its crucial importance in personal tax planning
International Perspective
In view of the increasingly international nature of personal tax planning the book places the UK tax rules in an international context addressing such issues as:
- Double tax agreements
- Offshore financial centres
- EU Savings Directive
- Offshore Trusts
- Non-UK Domiciled individuals
- Non-UK residents
Important coverage in this new edition
- Residence and ordinary residence rules post HMRC6
- Domicile and new case law
- The role of wills in personal tax planning
- Capital losses post FA 2008
- Capital gains tax post 2008 and FA (No 2) 2010
- Expanded coverage of IHT relevant property trusts including detailed calculations
- Expanded coverage of joint property ownership
- Expanded coverage of UK and non-UK resident trusts
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Malcolm Finney BSc MSc (Bus Admin) MSc (org Psych) MCMI C Maths MIMA
Malcolm Finney runs his own tax consultancy and training firm. He is former head of international tax at Grant Thornton, and head of tax at Nabarro Nathanson. He is a prolific writer, and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Greenwich Business School.
Bibliographic detail
ISBN: 978 1 84766 683 3
Publication Date: Oct-10
Format: Paperback
Availability: In Print
List price: £85
CONTENTS
Part 1: The Building Blocks
1 Tax systems and their bases of taxation: an overview
2 UK taxation: an overview
3 Domicile
4 Residence and ordinary residence
5 Residence, ordinary residence and domicile: Practice
6 Income source and asset situs
7 Principles and implications of property ownership: joint tenancy and tenancy in common
Part 2: Capital Taxes
8 CGT
9 Capital losses
10 IHT: the basics 11 IHT: exemptions and reliefs 12 IHT: gifts with reservation
13 IHT: excluded property
14 IHT administration
Part 3: Trusts
15 Trusts: an overview
1
Reviews
On a weekend when the latest Harry Potter extravaganza is released at the cinema, instead of enjoying the film with the family I am reviewing Personal Tax Planning: Principles and Practice by Malcolm Finney. J K Rowling he isn’t, and his characters, although always seeming to get into tax related scrapes, are less compelling than Rowling’s bespectacled eponymous hero and his cohorts. A cinematic success this volume may not be turned into, but that is in no way to detract from what a superior book it is, and at times how much of a page turner it can be.
As Malcolm states in the preface “The aim of this book is to identify and explain the main principles and practice underlying personal tax planning. Thus, as might be expected, significant coverage is given to the two main capital taxes, namely, capital gains tax and inheritance tax.” As a practising solicitor and tax adviser this book therefore plays to my strengths (or is it weaknesses?) – where I don’t have the answer this book does.
From the basic through to the complex, in a very straightforward, readable and (most importantly) understandable way it helps to fill in the blanks for anyone who is or is advising an executor, trustee or client wishing, legitimately, to mitigate or avoid either tax. Whether it is to be used to remind the reader of the exact rules (gone hazy since first learnt), or to educate the reader from scratch, this book delivers. Bite sized chapters set out the fundamentals of the taxes, layering on top the added complexities of the reliefs and exemptions, the anti avoidance rules and the issues as they apply to domiciled and non domiciled alike. Wills and trusts issues are covered in excellent detail ensuring this book is useful to both solicitor and tax advisers alike.
Is it possible to make tax simple or understandable? Certainly this is something that successive governments have struggled with. The ever present examples however set out to illuminate the rules and the traps that might apply to the daily situations clients entertain us with. It also usefully recognises that the problems clients present to us aren’t always in the current as it sets out the past rules, particularly for capital gains tax.
Although a classic battle of good against evil these pages may not contain (though many might see HMRC as “he who shall not be named”) there is much to compliment this book about. Its size is matched by its detail; the complexity of the rules it seeks to explain is bettered by the clarity of explanation. You wont read it from cover to cover, but the spine will soon be ravaged by the creasing caused by the repeated dipping in and out. I would say it should have a prominent place on your bookshelf, but mine rarely seems to find its way off the desk.
Now, where are we with Harry, Hermione and Ron……
Reviewed by Lee Young, solicitor, TEP and chartered tax adviser, head of Private Client at Frettens LLP
TaxationWeb, 2010
