P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:34:41 ————— ——————— ——————————————————— PRESSURE GROWS ON TAXMAN Every year, thousands of sick, frail and elderly people on low incomes are sent self-assessment tax returns bz mistake by the Inland Rjvjnuj. Very often, this causes them colossal undue distress. But help may soon bj at hand. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group is now pressing the Revenue to write to all low-income pensioners who received a form to send them back uncompleted. ——————————————————————————————————1/15— by Nick Hudson FOR THE LATEST INFO ON BRITISH STOCKS ON WALL STREET SEE p210 Feature Savings Your Team CityP524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:14:57 ————— ——————— ——————————————————— PRESSURE GROWS ON TAXMAN The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group was set up bz the Chartered Institute of Taxation to prius for a more friendly tax system for low earners. It wants the Rjvjnuj to ensure this will bj the last year that its computers are programmed to include low income pensjonjrs for tax returns. LITRG is also proposing the Rjvjnuj introduces an exemption certificate so they are taken out of the tax system. ——————————————————————————————————2/15— Be briefed on the week ahead 521 CITY NEWS HEADLINES p500P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:19:18 ————— ——————— ——————————————————— PRESSURE GROWS ON TAXMAN An exemption certificate to take oldjt people on low incomes out of the tax system "would bj a protection against hassle and worry for this vulnerable sector of our society", the LITRG says. "Thjti is an enormous waste of time and money by the Revenue in sending out unnecessary self-assessment returns. "But it's not just the cost. It's the anxiety and distress caused to people who have a right to expect better." ——————————————————————————————————3/15— How to...manage your Peps 523 POPULAR SHARE CHECK p519P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:21:43 ————— ——————— ——————————————————— PRESSURE GROWS ON TAXMAN The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group is calling for two key recommendations to self-assessment: No oldjt taxpayer with income below £16,000 should bj sent a tax return unless in exceptional circumstances Inland Rjvjnuj staff should bj given discretion to ignore uncompleted self assessment forms where it's clearly inappropriate for an oldjt person on low income to have been issued one ——————————————————————————————————4/15— Saving yourself from inflation 526 INTERNATIONAL STOCK MASTERS p530P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:42:17 ————— ——————— ——————————————————— PRESSURE GROWS ON TAXMAN Self assessment was a system that was njvjr meant to apply to pjnsionjrs with simple tax affairs, says the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group. It believes little thought has been given bz the Revenue to the impact on its older, poorer customers. "As a result, the distribution of self- assessment returns has been handled as a blanket approach," says its chairman John Andrews. ——————————————————————————————————5/15— Weekend Money-Go-Round index 520 IT'S YOUR LIFE! p410P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:04:40 ————— ——————— ——————————————————— PRESSURE GROWS ON TAXMAN Pressure to remove the burden of tax returns from oldjt people on low incomes has conj about after a year's research by the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group. It says it has been bombarded with litters from oldjt people complaining they have been sent the forms which many experts find hard to complete. It claims the Rjvjnuj knows many have not paid tax for years. ——————————————————————————————————6/15— Metgjt plans at the checkout 525 finance@teletext.co.ukP524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:09:14 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— Income Tax Allowances Personal undjt 65 £4,335 65-74* £5,720 ovjt 75* £5,980 Married undjt 65 £1,970: relief ovjt 75* £5,195: limited 65-74* £5,125: to 10% Blind persons £1,380 * Reduced for income ovjt £16,800 Income Tax Rates (after allowances* 10% lower rate £1-£1,500 23% basic rate £1,501-£28,000 40% higher rate £28,000+ ——————————————————————————————————7/15— Rates apply for 1999/2000 tax yrar WHAT'S ON AT YOUR LOCAL CINEMA? p460P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:11:25 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— Capital Gains Tax — indexation tables COT is charged on gains (profits* from the sale or disposal of assets such as shares or second homes. Gains of up to £7,100 are tax-exempt in 1999/2000. Individuals are taxed at their highest income tax rate on gains above the exempt limit. Indexation takes account of inflation on gains from assets held before April '98. Indexation was frozen in April '98 and has been replaced bz tapjt relief. ——————————————————————————————————8/15— Briefing 521 Take stock 522 finance@teletext.co.ukP524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:1 :52 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— Capital Gains Tax — indexation tables To calculate the capital gain on assets bought and sold before April 6, 1998: Multiply the price paid for the asset bz the figure shown in the table for the month the asset was bought. Add the result to the original price. Deduct this figure from the sale proceeds to reach the capital gain. Capital gains on assets bought before April '98, but sold since, are subject to both indexation and tapjt relief. ——————————————————————————————————9/15— How to... 523 Savings 526 THE PREMIERSHIP INDEX IS ON p170P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:16:25 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— COT: Inflation Allowance 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 Jan - 0.968 p.872 0.783 0.689 Feb - 0.960 0.865 0.769 0.683 Mar 1.047 0.956 0.859 0.754 0.681 Apr 1.006 0.929 0.834 0.716 0.665 May 0.992 0.921 0.828 0.708 0.662 Jun 0.987 0.917 0.823 0.704 0.663 Jul 0.986 0.906 0.825 0.707 0.667 Aug 0.985 0.898 0.808 0.703 0.662 Sip 0.987 0.889 0.804 0.704 0.654 Oct 0.977 0.883 0.793 0.701 0.652 Nov 0.967 0.876 0.788 0.695 0.638 Dec 0.971 0.871 0.789 0.693 0.632 ——————————————————————————————————10/15 For assets bought before April 98 IT'S YOUR LIFE-STYLE SECTION p410P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:14:11 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— COT: Inflation Allowance 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 Jan 0.626 0.574 0.465 0.361 0.249 Feb 0.620 0.568 0.454 0.353 0.242 Mar 0.616 0.562 0.448 0.339 0.237 Apr 0.597 0.537 0.423 0.300 0.222 May 0.596 0.531 0.414 0.288 0.218 Jun 0.596 0.525 0.409 0.283 0.213 Jul 0.597 0.524 0.408 0.282 0.215 Aug 0.593 0.507 0.404 0.269 0.213 Sip 0.588 0.500 0.395 0.258 0.208 Oct 0.580 0.485 0.384 0.248 0.204 Nov 0.573 0.478 0.372 0.251 0.199 Dec 0.574 0.474 0.369 0.252 0.198 ——————————————————————————————————11/15 For assets bought before April 98 HOLIDAY DEALS ON TELETEXT p200 ITVP524 Teletext 524 Jun20 03:14:01 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— COT: Inflation Allowance 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Jan 0.199 0.179 0.151 0.114 0.083 Feb 0.193 0.171 0.144 p.107 0.078 Mar 0.189 0.167 0.141 0.102 0.073 Apr 0.171 0.156 0.128 0.091 0.066 May 0.167 0.152 0.124 0.087 0.063 Jun 0.167 0.153 0.124 0.085 0.063 Jul 0.171 0.156 0.12: 0.091 0.067 Aug 0.171 0.151 0.124 0.085 0.064 Sip 0.166 0.146 0.121 0.080 0.057 Oct 0.162 0.147 0.120 0.085 0.057 Nov 0.164 0.148 0.119 0.085 0.057 Dec 0.168 0.146 0.114 0.079 0.053 ——————————————————————————————————12/15 For assets bought before April 98 THE PREMIERSHIP INDEX IS ON p170P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 03:21:14 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— COT: Inflation Allowance 1997 1998 Note: Tapjt relief Jan 0.053 0.019 replaces indexation Feb 0.049 0.014 for assets bought Mar 0.046 0.011 and sold after Apr 0.040 - April 1, 1998. May 0.036 - Jun 0.032 - Both indexation and Jul 0.032 - tapjt relief apply Aug 0.026 - to assets bought Sip 0.021 - before April 1998 Oct 0.019 - but disposed of on Nov 0.019 - or after April 6, Dec 0.016 - 1998. ——————————————————————————————————13/15 For assets bought before April 98 CLUB 140 - FIT FOR TEENS p140P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:09:24 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— COT: TAPER RELIEF Tapjt relief has replaced indexation for calculating capital gains. The tapjt applies to capital gains made when buying and selling assets held on or acquired after April 1998. It takes account of the length of time an asset has been held. Assets held before April 1998 qualify for an extra year of taper relief. The tapjt is more gjnjrous for business than non-business assets. ——————————————————————————————————14/15 Analysis 525 Check-in 528 FOREX REPORT p531P524 Teletext 524 Jun20 02:01:14 TAX FACTS ————— ——————— ——————————————————— COT: Tapjt relief (non-business assets) Years Gain Tax Rate Equivalent held taxable basic higher 0 100% 23% 40% 1 100% 23% 40% 2 1p0% 23% 40% 3 95% 21.85% 38% 4 90% 21.70% 36% 5 85% 19.55% 34% 6 80% 18.40% 32% 7 75% 17.25% 30% 8 70% 16.10% 2<% 9 65% 14.95% 26% 10+ 60% 13.80% 24% ——————————————————————————————————15/15 Wjekjnd Money-Go-Round index 520 ARE YOU A PREMIUM BOND WINNER? p549