All that glisters is not gold

KEVIN SLEVIN considers the true value of the tax treatment of civil partners.

THE CIVIL PARTNERSHIP Act 2004 (CPA 2004) comes into effect from 5 December 2005 and creates a new legal status of 'civil partner' for those same sex couples who register their relationship with the authorities. FA 2005 s 103 — 'Civil partnerships etc.' — contains provisions giving the Treasury the authority to introduce measures by way of statutory instrument designed to give greater equality of tax treatment to different groups of people the principal focus being upon members of the civil partnerships introduced by CPA 2004.

FA 2005 s 103 simply paves the way for measures to be introduced but it does so in a form of words which seem quite surprising at first glance. A study of the following will quickly show that the section achieves the stated objective...