Recognised stock exchanges

Our view
Providing the clarification does indeed clarify the position, this will give welcome certainty to investors in and providers of ISAs, those claiming Business Asset Taper Relief and others. The challenge is to produce a definition of “listed” that successfully captures the intended treatment of overseas exchanges where exchange rules and local regulation are not closely parallel with our own.

We understand that there is no current intention that AIM is to be designated as a recognised exchange and the move to give HMRC power to designate other UK exchanges as “recognised” appears to be a pragmatic approach to future developments, and the restriction of the power to exchanges regulated as such by the FSA should be an appropriate constraint. The provisions of the MIFiD for example, which have implications for SDRT intermediary relief as discussed elsewhere, will lead to the existence of a wider range of exchanges than we are currently used to, and this move should allow tax law to keep pace with commercial developments.