According to Deloitte, the sustained M&A activity in the year to 31 July within the sector was driven principally by stable market conditions, new housing orders and a continued momentum within the leveraged finance market. The Bovis-Elite deal is instead based on market positioning and to allow for regional expansion plans.

Deloitte’s research found that up to mid summer 2007, when the credit crunch affected the global financial markets, 70% of transactions since...

The new regime, which takes effect from 6 April 2008, effectively increases the tax payable on profits from the disposal of shares from 10% to 18%. The result of this is likely to be the acceleration of sale plans by investors keen to avoid paying additional tax. It is highly probable that private equity will be a leading player in such disposals.

Paul Zimmerman, Corporate Finance Partner at Deloitte, said: “We expect to see a...

To date, the optimum capital gains tax rate has been 10%, which was seen by many entrepreneurs as an acceptable cost on an exit. Clearly 18% is significantly higher and may affect the decision whether or not to sell.  An entrepreneur with a business worth £5 million will face an additional tax cost of £400,000.

Sam Hart, director of Entrepreneurial Business at Deloitte, said: “On the face of it, the change in the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rate increases significantly the rate of tax...

“This has been a thorny subject for the Government, as the matter has been under debate for several years without change being made. Mr Darling has now proposed a flat rate charge for non domiciles of £30,000, which will apply after seven years UK residence.

“The Chancellor calculates that 15,000 taxpayers would find it beneficial to pay the levy, and on this basis the estimated yield is about £500 million per annum, although...

Deloitte is named a market leader in a new report on the security consulting services marketplace by the globally respected independent researcher, Forrester Research. Forrester concluded that Deloitte member firms established themselves as leaders in the security consulting services market thanks to their “breadth of current offerings and focus on future growth areas.”

The Forrester report titled, Forrester Wave™: Security Consulting Services, Q3 2007, evaluates the...

The Court of Appeal held that businesses offering reward goods to customers in exchange for redeemed Nectar points were making supplies of services to LMUK for VAT purposes.  LMUK had, therefore, incurred VAT input tax on the supplies, and could recover it – the point contested by HMRC.

Daniel Lyons, indirect tax partner at Deloitte, said: “Given the frequency of these arrangements in the retail sector, the amounts of...

“Proposals to replace Air Passenger Duty with a tax based on the level of carbon emissions per flight would make the relative carbon cost of a flight easier to understand.”

“In its current form the relatively low ‘flat rate’ Airline Passenger Duty is unlikely to lead to wholesale behavioural change amongst passengers and simply raises additional tax.  It also ignores freight and private flights.  In contrast, having a tax based on the carbon cost...

• We now know why the Prime Minister chose not to go to the country early. The economic and financial position has worsened such that it would now only be possible to give some significant pre-election sweeteners by raising the already high borrowing numbers still more and hence endangering the government’s reputation for fiscal prudence.
• In the event, the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) reflected a keen political judgment in partially adopting the Conservatives’ tax proposals while appearing to direct extra money at the margin into spending on health and...