December 21, 2009

Stockbrokers, asset managers and insurance companies will be exempt from the government's supertax on bonuses after HM Revenue & Customs was forced to alter its definition of a bank following complaints from firms who believed they had been wrongly targeted by the levy.The chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced a one-off supertax of 50% on the bonuses of tens of thousands of bankers in the pre-budget report earlier this month, in an effort to discourage the industry from making large-scale and politically unpopular rewards this year.

But HMRC said that it had been forced to take another look at the wording of the draft legislation after receiving a number of complaints about the definition of a "bank"."In particular we have received representations that the definition of a bank inadvertently catches companies which would not be regarded as a bank from a commercial or legal perspective.