Leaving the country

SIX PAGES OF draft legislation amending the provisions relating to the transfer of assets abroad in TA 1988 ss 739 to 742 were issued at the time of the Pre-Budget Report. The aim of this article is to set out some of the practical issues arising for practitioners. These affect clients proposing new transactions and clients who have undertaken transactions in the past where the conclusion was that no charge under s 739 or s 740 arose but who may now fall within the transition provisions. It is important to note here that the changes to s 740 are arguably retrospective in their effect; for example benefits provided after 5 December 2005 by trustees can fall within s 740 by being matched with income that arose at an earlier time when the s 741 defence was available.

Scope of the changes

The changes can be summarised...