Members of employee share schemes will not be spared higher rates of capital gains tax (CGT) from April this year. In his long-awaited concessions on the 18 per cent flat rate of CGT announced in October’s pre-Budget report, chancellor Alistair Darling introduced a lower rate of 10 per cent for lifetime gains of up to £1m on holdings in trading companies, provided the owner has at least a 5 per cent stake (see Entrepreneur, Page 24).

But investors in other assets that used to benefit from taper relief will see their tax rate rise from as little as 5 per cent to 18 per cent in just over 10 weeks.