Devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

As most clients will have seen in the financial news the Chancellor recently announced that the Government has agreed to the devolution of more powers, including the setting of tax legislation, to parts of the UK. Draft clauses are expected to be published soon; however the types of changes are already known:

Scotland will have the control of Income Tax rates and thresholds for income other than dividends to all Scottish taxpayers. The Personal Allowance for UK residents, however, will not be affected.

Wales will gain the full devolution of non-domestic (“business”) tax rates with a fully operational regime by April 2015.

Northern Ireland might gain the control of setting its own Corporation Tax rates if its Executive can demonstrate that it is able to manage the financial implications. This will allow Northern Ireland to compete with the neighbouring Republic of Ireland’s 12.5% Corporation Tax rate.  This could be of particular interest to clients using corporate agency arrangements.

These changes will present opportunities to Non-domiciled clients to arrange their affairs so that they may take advantage of lower taxation in a region whilst still obtaining the advantages of being UK resident.  We will keep clients informed as the situation develops.