Share scheme date extension.
The Treasury has offered an extension to the deadline for wrapping up
Financial secretary Stephen Timms agreed to Tory calls for existing schemes to be phased out by 1 January 2003, instead of 5 April 2002, to enable them to make the change at the end of their financial years. The concession came during Finance Bill committee debates in which he rejected several Tory attempts to widen the scheme, including an attempt to scrap stamp duty on share deals below #5,000 proposed by shadow chief secretary and accountant MP David Heathcoat-Amory. He said the Tories backed the scheme, but accused the government of failing to make changes in the tax structure that would make it more of a success.