Gold – the ultimate hedge, or an increasingly irrelevant asset? »
Whether or not you are a gold bug, as followers of the yellow metal are sometimes known, the reality is that gold remains a popular investment asset. More than any other precious metal, gold is where investors turn at times of economic, political and social unrest or as a hedge against currency crises and stock market weakness. Just recently the returns have been less than golden, but opinion is as divided as ever over what the future may hold in store. 

Reviewing trust investments in April 2013 »
As announced in the Budget 2012, the additional rate of income tax paid by individuals has come down from 50% to 45% from 6 April 2013.  In line with this the rates of income tax paid by trustees of discretionary trusts have also reduced from 42.5% to 37.5% for dividend income that is accumulated and from 50% to 45% for all other income.

The General Anti-abuse Rule (part one) »
The subject of tax avoidance and evasion has been headline news for some time bearing in mind that HMRC has estimated that in 2011/12 the "tax gap" (the difference between the tax due and that collected) amounted to £32bn.  Of this it is estimated that avoidance accounted for 14% (£5bn) and evasion 46% (£14bn).  In the light of this, in this new series of articles I will look at the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) which is a special statutory rule that targets tax avoidance schemes which, because they are complex and/or novel, are outside of the general tax legislation. Only schemes that are abusive are within the ambit of the GAAR. 

MyPFS - Technical news - 22/04/2013 »
News update from 3 - 16 April 2013

The importance of Cyprus »
Given the small size of the Cypriot economy, it is remarkable that the country's impending bankruptcy should have created the shock waves that it did.  That the country should be in trouble hardly came as any surprise. The links with Greece were strong, so some collateral damage seemed inevitable. But it was the proposed solution that so unsettled investors, not to mention the Cypriot people. Little wonder that the Cyprus parliament voted down the original proposals. 

My PFS - Technical news - 09/04/2013 »
PFS Technical news update from 20 March to 2 April 2013

Auto-enrolment (part four) »
This is the fourth of five articles in a series looking at various aspects of auto enrolment. The five articles will consider the following areas:

Financial Solutions Mar-Apr 2013 (full issue) »
Includes articles on adviser charging, winner of the Volunteer of the year award, and the results of the UK's largest research study into consumer attitudes towards housing equity withdrawal.

My PFS - Technical news - 26/03/2013 »
Technical news update from 6 March to 19 March 2013

The taxation of corporate investments - collective investments (part five) »
In the previous articles in this series I have explained how investment life insurance contracts, such as a single premium bonds, would be taxed in the ownership of a company.  This month I will consider the tax implications where the investments owned by a company are collective investments ("Collectives").