Tax planning for family and owner-managed companies 2007/08

By Peter Rayney. Published by Tottel Publishing paperback 816 pages price £84

One of the great perils of writing about tax is the way in which things do not progress smoothly but by strange leaps and bounds at the Chancellor's whim.

Those perils are redoubled when writing about limited companies at a time when the new Companies Act is being released piecemeal.

It follows that some books however often updated are hostages to fortune and this is padlocked to the radiator with little hope of release.

Tax planning for family and owner-managed companies 2007/08 is a splendidly comprehensive tome but the income shifting rules and the capital gains tax changes blowing apart much of what is said about extracting profits and selling the company will have a profound effect on the book's fortunes.

Though the back of the book mentions...