Tax treats 'expected by chancellor'

Those in tax jobs may have some backtracking to do, following reports of yet another tax U-turn by the government.

Chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling is expected to tell a Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference that plans to tax intellectual property held offshore will be shelved following protests from UK companies, the Times reports.

Director-general of the CBI Richard Lambert told the Times: "For businesses, the rate is important, but so is consistency, clarity and a sense of strategic direction.

"That is why the tax changes over the last 15 months have been so damaging - they have made people think: What are the rules around here?"

The government recently reversed its decision to abolish the ten per cent income tax band by raising the tax-free allowance to effectively reintroduce the '10p' rate of income tax.

CBI is the UK's leading lobbying organisation for UK business and can be working on up to 80 policy changes at any one time.