Transfers between husband and wife

For a new unlisted company set up after 5 April 2000 there will be no loss of business assets taper relief on an inter-spouse share transfer even where the transferee spouse has not previously held any shares in the company. This is because the company is the transferee spouse's 'qualifying company' by virtue of being unlisted (paragraph 6(1)(b)(i) of Schedule A1 to the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992). No reference in that section is made to any requirement for the transferee to have held shares nor to any employment in the company. The qualifying holding period of the transferee spouse is combined with the transferor's period giving full business asset taper relief.

For shareholdings first acquired by either husband or wife prior to 6 April 2000 the position could be very different and the Revenue's Capital Gains Tax Manual illustrates the pitfalls at...