Mark McLaughlin highlights a relatively unknown and infrequently used but generous capital gains tax relief.
Some company shareholders may either be unaware or have forgotten about a relatively unknown capital gains tax (CGT) relief that offers a reduced CGT rate of only 10% on qualifying gains of up to £10m during their lifetime, if certain conditions are satisfied.
Investors’ relief (IR) applies to disposals of shares in trading companies by individuals (or trustees in some cases). Unsurprisingly for such a generous relief, there are potentially tricky ‘strings’ attached. Detailed commentary on the IR rules is beyond the scope of this article, but some key conditions are outlined below.
Jumping the hurdles
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Ordinary shares in an unlisted (i.e., unquoted) trading company (or holding company of a trading
