The Finance Bill will be debated and refined as it progresses through the committee stage in the House of Commons during May and this process will be eagerly watched by many. Recent case law developments have provided some clarification of existing legislation in respect of repairs versus capital improvements, and whether discovery assessments can apply to losses, but also highlight the unfairness of the income tax rules on life assurance gains.

Public sector tax and procurement rules

Following an informal consultation process, the government has made the following welcome changes to the tax and procurement rules that came into effect from 1 April 2013: