More than two-thirds (62%) of those polled by PricewaterhouseCoopers said they did not think that that the cut in capital gains tax and other tax measures announced on Tuesday would encourage businesses to come into the UK.
Barry Murphy, corporate tax partner at the firm, said that although the reduction in the corporation tax rate, “balanced by some capital allowance restrictions”, was “broadly welcome, if only marginal for many businesses”, the real test “was the one to be tackled in the next two years”.
This is when businesses will be looking for “a sustainable and competitive regime for the taxation of overseas profits and returns from intellectual property,” he said.
PwC said its poll of 83 tax directors from FTSE 350 companies, representing a cross-section of industries from pharmaceutical, oil and gas, banking and technology sectors, otherwise found a generally “high level of optimism” in the overall reaction to the budget.
