The uncertainty is prompting many to take action sooner rather than later.
“We’ve seen some clients selling a business who want the sale to go through ASAP at current capital gains tax rates. Accelerating, deferring and leaving – those are the main things that people are talking about at the moment,” Volkes says.
Some clients prefer to “sit on their hands” and “wait it out for a time when the rates come back down again”, she adds.
Julia Cox, partner in the private client team at Charles Russell Speechlys, is witnessing similar moves.
“Some people are actually talking about going non-resident to realise their gains. That is quite dramatic, not least because you have to go non-resident for effectively six years,” she says.
Others are trying to find complex ways to pay taxes on the gains at current rates while retaining the asset, she says.
“We have got clients who were thinking of selling shares, quoted or private, to their personal company or trust,” she adds.
A higher-rate taxpayer currently pays 20pc when selling assets like shares or 24pc when selling a second home or buy-to-let property.
In contrast, they would pay 40pc on any income earned from a regular job between £50,271 to £125,140, rising thereafter to 45pc.
Senior figures in the Labour Party like Angela Rayner have in the past spoken in favour of taxing capital gains more similarly to income.
However, many people are sceptical about such an increase over fears that it would limit investment and Britain’s ability to retain and attract successful risk-takers.
“There are very good reasons why capital gains tax is lower than income tax. If you look across Europe and other countries that is also typically the case,” Bell says.
“A lot of the capital gains tax that’s paid tends to come through business transactions, like business sales. That might be where business owners have taken much lower salaries over a very long period of time.”
