Osborne closes tax net on multinationals, banks

London

UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has closed the tax net on multinationals, shut a significant bank tax loophole and has radically reformed stamp duty on house purchases.

Multinational companies such as Amazon and Apple will have to pay a new 25 per cent tax on profits generated from business in the UK but are presently "artificially shifted" to offshore centres. Mr Osborne also halved the proportion of previous year banks' losses which could be offset against tax incurred from their profitable divisions.