What are usiness assets?
There are various categories of ‘business assets’ to which the higher rate of taper relief applies: • Assets used in a trade carried on by the taxpayer (either alone or in partnership). From 6 April 2004, business asset taper relief is extended to an asset used in a trade carried on by any individual, or by any partnership whose members include an individual; • Assets used in a trade carried on by the taxpayer’s qualifying company (or by a trading group company, if the holding company is the taxpayer’s qualifying company); • Assets used in an employee’s office or employment working for a trading employer; or • Shares in a qualifying company. Separate rules apply to certain business asset disposals before and after 6 April 2000. Perhaps the most important of these relates to the definition of ‘qualifying company’. These pre and post-6 April 2000 definitions are contained in Inland Revenue Helpsheet IR279 entitled ‘Taper relief’, which can be downloaded (in pdf format) from the Inland Re
