Tax Themed Christmas Quiz 2019

Test your…. er… tax knowledge with our quiz below.

Answers for Q1 to Q7 are provided by the link after Q7. Q8, then, is your prize entry question – a Yes/No choice, for an unmissable Christmas prize.

The winner of this inaugural Tax Tuesday Prize Christmas Quiz 2019 will be selected at random, from all correct answers received.

“Tax” Questions

1. Describing another politician, the former labour Chancellor Denis Healey (who died this year, aged 98) famously said:
“He has the face of a man who clubs baby seals”

Was he referring to:

1. Michael Heseltine,
2. Norman Tebbit,
3. John Prescott,
4. Desmond Lynam, or
5. Nigel Lawson.

2.. Which of these lovely taxes yielded most for the Exchequer in 2018/19:

1. Stamp Duty Land Tax,
2. Insurance Premium Tax,
3. Inheritance Tax,
4. Aggregates Levy, or
5. Capital Gains Tax

3. The father of modern Economics published a ground-breaking treatise in 1776 called “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” (just 9.99 in paperback from Amazon today). This set the scene for understanding macro-economics, including the role of taxation, in the new industrialised capitalist world of Great Britain. That man was:

1. Evan Jones,
2. Wynn Brown,
3. Adam Smith,
4. Hector Davies, or
5. Robert Peston.

4. What highly tax efficient manoeuvre did Anne Jones undertake on 11 March 2018?

1. She gave her fortune to Oxfam,
2. She transferred more than 10,000 acres of Scottish forestry into trust,
3. She emigrated to Switzerland before the beginning of the new tax year;
4. She began opening the doors of her Hertfordshire estate to the public, or
5. She got married to a wealthy celebrity.

5. The rates of Fuel Excise Duty and VAT on petrol have surprisingly been a constant for nearly 9 years. Assuming you manage to buy a litre today for £1.20, how much Duty and VAT would be included in what you pay?

1. 145.25p
2. 105.50p
3. 77.95p,
4. 57.05p,
5. 43.50p, or
6. 27.75p.

6. The share option scheme, Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), is full of advantages, but which of these is not true:

1. the EMI process enables initial value to be agreed with HMRC before anyone commits to the scheme,
2. the option-holder can buy shares, on the basis of initial value, up to ten years later without suffering any Income Tax,
3. the option-holder can sell their shares at a 10% rate of CGT despite owning the shares for only five minutes before the sale,
4. the company that granted the EMI options can deduct an amount equal to the option-holder’s gain in its CT computations, or
5. HMRC sends an Emmy the Emu toy to every new option-holder when their EMI scheme is registered.

7. Only one of these taxes has never been in force in the UK – which is it?

1. The clock tax,
2. The playing cards tax,
3. The hat tax,
4. The stables tax,
5. The wallpaper tax,
6. The soap tax,
7. The beard tax.

And when you’re ready, you can take a look at the answers.

Prize question

8. Santa has a team of 12 overseas-domiciled toy-assemblers operating from a Welsh Agency leased business park just outside Wrexham. The workers are organised into four 6-hour shifts, providing 7 day-a-week services on the basis of an hourly rate throughout November and the first three weeks of December, and then returning to Lapland prior to Christmas Day.

1. Will the workers suffer UK PAYE on their earnings?

YES

1. or

NO

.

Thank you for playing and have a very Happy Christmas!