SOMETIMES I think that Alice in Wonderland has nothing on tax when it comes to things not being what they seem.

Would you believe for example that a UK trustee of a UK trust with UK beneficiaries and no past, present or future connection with the USA would have to register with the US Internal Revenue Service?

Bizarre as it may seem, many such trusts will now have to do this thanks to a piece of UK legislation passed last year.

Or would you believe that two people holding shares in the same company could find that they had wildly different values? A holding of 49% and a holding of 51% are likely to have very different values.

The way in which business property is owned and whether or not a rent is charged can make a difference to the capital gains tax due on sale or the inheritance tax due on death. The way in which agricultural land is owned and used can also impact significantly on the tax due on death.

With shares in a trading company, owning 4.9% is likely to mean paying capital gains tax at 28% on a sale whereas owning 5.1% may result in paying tax at only 10%. I say ‘may’ because there are other factors such as whether you are a director, officer or employee – if you are not then you are again likely to pay capital gains tax at 28%. These things need to be looked at well in advance of a sale – at least a year before in fact.

The sequence in which you buy and sell shares can also make a significant difference to any capital gains tax due. In some situations shares are ‘matched’ with shares bought after the sale rather than before it. To put it another way, you can be treated as having sold something that you did not own at the time of sale.

Two people with exactly the same income can be taxed differently if one has only savings income and the other only non-savings income. Perversely, the person with savings income is likely to pay the lower amount of tax.

There are many things in the world of tax that are not what they seem and the more you look at them the stranger they become.

Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice might have said. *Paul Aplin OBE is a tax partner with A C Mole & Sons and chairman of the Technical Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales Tax Faculty; you can follow him on Twitter @PaulAplinOnTax. He and fellow tax partners Amanda Gunter and Paul Kingdom can be contacted on 01823-624450.