Dear Listener

Another week, another promise on inheritance tax. Only this one has already

started. Chancellor Alistair Darling surprised almost everyone in his first

pre-Budget report on Tuesday when he said that married couples and civil

partners could leave their inheritance tax allowance to their spouse –

effectively doubling the starting point of the tax on the second death from

£300,000 to £600,000. And the change began at once relieving what he says are

two million widows and widowers from the fear of the tax. We’ll get expert and

clear explanations of how it will work in practice.

Another tax change is not such good news. Capital gains tax can hit people who

sell a second home, buy shares in the company they work for, sell a business

they’ve built up over years, or get a windfall payout from a building society

or insurance company. From April the UK’s most complicated tax will be made

simple. But who will gain and who will lose? Overall the government will –

taking an extra £900 million a year by 2010.

We’ll mention other bits from the pre-Budget including more taxes on people who

work here but retain a strong connection with another country – the so-called

“non-doms” who live in the UK without being “domiciled” here. And a warning to

couples and families who work together in businesses that the days of deciding

how they arrange their affairs to minimise the tax paid will be over.

We’ll also be hearing that Tesco has pulled the plug on the private sales

section of its property website. It was launched with some fanfare in July and

offered customers a flat fee of £199 to sell their home. But the Office of Fair

Trading has advised that Tesco was in fact acting like an estate agent, with

all the responsibilities that came with that. And Tesco has now stopped the

service and offered a full refund to customers. 

Remember that Money Box and Money Box Live can both be downloaded now, so you

can listen to them on your computer or MP3 player anytime, anywhere. And you

can sign up for a weekly download to make sure you never miss an episode. 

Best wishes

Paul Lewis

PS Don’t forget the live preview of Money Box on BBC1 Breakfast between 8.45

and 9 Saturday morning. 

e-mail Paul Lewis