Autumn 2007 Newsletter Contents Borrowed clothes? You want it when? The daily grind Knock knock Computers@home Stick to the facts It's personal Expense claims Cash down Plant buying Hobson's choice A helping hand Education, education Up with the Joneses Bills bills bills Done to a crisp Tax association

Borrowed clothes? The new Chancellor, Alastair Darling, delivered his first Pre-Budget Report on 9 October, outlining some of the main tax changes we can expect next March. There was an immediate fuss over changes to inheritance tax, foreign domiciled people and air passenger duty that seemed largely to adopt proposals made by the Conservative Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, the previous week. Imitation may be sincere flattery, but it must be frustrating when you have come up with what seems to be a popular idea and the other side immediately claim it for themselves. What was even more surprising was the major change to capital gains tax which will take place on 6 April 2008. CGT was apparently dear to Gordon Brown - he rewrote the rules in his first Budget and has tinkered with them several times since. It seemed unlikely that Mr Darling would scrap the whole structure that his predecessor had built up but that is what he has done. Mr Brown does not appear to have taken this as a criticism - maybe he has forgotten that the rules were his creation. The changes are very significant. As always, there will be winners and losers: some people will want to bring forward sales before the change, others will need to delay them until afterwards. It will be an "interesting time" for capital gains. We will be here to help you see what the new rules mean for your money. There was one more surprise in the CGT changes - the proposals actually look simpler than the current system. That's a major departure from the way Mr Brown worked, and a welcome one!