A TAX specialist at Swindon-based accountants Morris Owen claims that small, owner-managed companies look set to be hit by new taxes in the 2004 Budget.

The 2002 budget introduced significant tax incentives which created a wave of incorporations in the owner-managed business sector.

However, according to Sharon Omer-Kaye of Morris Owen, hidden away in the detail of this week's pre-budget report are indications of a potenitally significant government U-turn in this policy.

Said Ms Omer-Kaye: "What Gordon Brown has given, he seems to be taking away."