"One of the first things George Osborne said in his Budget speech today was that he wanted to "level with us" and as he laid bare the truly dismal state of the economy, he certainly seemed to be setting out a deeply unsettling vision for the UK's economic recovery.
On the back of this, the Chancellor was under pressure to deliver some good news and at least give us a crumb of comfort for the future. His Budget therefore focused on helping those he believes can grow the economy and lead us out of recession, thus the constant reference to the phrase of the day, "Aspiration Nation".
As a result, this was a Budget for low and middle income earners with the increase in personal allowance to £10,000 bought forward by a year, the new Help to Buy mortgage scheme and the introduction of tax free childcare. Small businesses also received a boost in the form of national insurance cuts and bought forward corporation tax cuts.
Tucked away in the finer detail of the Budget were some planning opportunities we are keen to look at in more detail. These include a limited extension of the capital gains tax holiday to continue to encourage investors to take up the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) scheme.
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The current 100 per cent Capital Gains Tax exemption was due to end this tax year but any investors making capital gains in 2013-14 will now receive a 50 per cent capital gains tax relief when they reinvest those gains into seed companies in either 2013-14 or 2014-15.
In relation to the above and as announced at Budget 2012, the Government will cap previously unlimited income tax reliefs at the greater of £50,000 or 25 per cent of an individual's income.
Charitable reliefs, share loss relief applying to Enterprise Investment Scheme or Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and overlap relief will be exempt from this cap.
Finally, relief that for once, pensions stayed out of the Budget limelight with the exception of the bringing forward of changes to the State scheme and equalising the national insurance contribution on DC and DB schemes.
There was however, an interesting announcement about a consultation into whether residential property created by the conversion of unused space in commercial properties, would be allowed as an investment within a pension scheme. It will be interesting to see whether the Government follows through on this."

Tim Davies, head of tax at Mazars.

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