Although not as extensive as in other jurisdictions, employment legislation in Guernsey has progressed rapidly in recent years

Although not as extensive as in other jurisdictions, employment legislation in Guernsey has progressed rapidly in recent year

The range of Guernsey’s employment laws now encompasses those relating to conditions of employment, health and safety, employment, sex discrimination protection and rehabilitation of offenders, data protection, protection from harassment, and prohibition of smoking in public places and workplaces.

Ashton Barnes Tee is one of the few firms in Guernsey that has a dedicated employment law department, with lawyers specialising in Guernsey employment law.

The firm acts for local and international employers and employees in contentious and non-contentious matters across the whole employment spectrum.

The types of employment law work undertaken by the firm include advising with regard to: recruitment and selection procedures, criminal record checks, references, minimum statements of terms and conditions, contracts of employment, tax, social insurance, data protection, disciplinary procedures, employment policies, staff handbooks, unfair and wrongful dismissal, sex discrimination, restrictive covenants, health and safety, industrial disputes, social insurance, transfer of employment, and compromise / termination agreements, housing control, right to work and immigration.

Taxing times

By Lesley Stalker, partner,

Robert James Partnership

The contents of the Pre-Budget Report have ensured an interesting conclusion to 2007 and start of 2008, with the abolition of taper relief and introduction of a flat rate 18 per cent CGT.

When advising clients to date, the 10 per cent rate has been relied upon to continue and its abrupt ending – assuming the tax proposals will be fully enacted – means most clients owning shares or securities in SMEs must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Essentially there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer.

The ramifications of this change are complex. For business owners intending to sell shares between now and 6 April 2008, a full reversal of the advice previously offered applies.

Deals should be structured to include a higher proportion of initial cash consideration than in the past as taxation relating to deferred consideration could prove problematic.

Our calculations have shown that any worries over potential cash flow caused by the capital gains tax payments required are not as significant as initially estimated and the gains to be had outweigh any short-term liquidity issues.

However, for clients who have already sold before the Pre-Budget Report, many are now locked into a pre-agreed deal structure, which could force them into redeeming a portion of their deferred consideration after 5 April 2008 and pay CGT at 18 per cent.

In such cases, tax planning opportunities continue to exist and we are advising our clients to consider a number of alternatives.

For more information on exit strategy planning following the Pre-Budget Report, please visit www.rjp.co.uk/podcasts.