(c) State any reliefs Bob could claim regarding the fall in value of his shares in Willis Ltd, and describe how theoperation of any such reliefs could reduce Bob’s taxable income. (4 marks)Relevant retail price index figures are:September 1990 129·3April

正确答案：
(c) Claims for capital losses
Where the value of shares (a chargeable asset) has become negligible (defined as <5% of the original cost), a claim can be
made to treat the asset as though it was sold and then immediately reacquired for its current market value. This is known as
a negligible value claim.
The sale and reacquisition is treated as taking place at the time that the claim is made or at a specified time (up to 2 years
before the start of the tax year in which the claim was made) if the asset was of negligible value at that time.
As the loss is on unquoted shares, a further relief (s.574 ICTA 1988) allows the loss to be relieved against the total income
of the taxpayer for the year in which the loss arose, and/or against the total income of the previous year.
Losses are first relieved against current year income, with any excess being available for offset against the prior year’s income.
Bob can therefore make a negligible value claim as at 1 December 2004. This will give rise to a loss of ￡14,500
(￡500 – ￡15,000) which will be deemed to arise in the year 2004/05. By doing so, his taxable income for that year will be
reduced from ￡36,875 to ￡22,375.