It now appears that neither private equity funds, hedge funds, nor boutiques are covered by The Tax

On Friday evening, the British government finally issued its clarification of the technical notes accompanying the bonus tax.

The clarification makes it very clear that insurance companies, asset managers, and stockbrokers won't be hit by the tax (suggesting vigorous lobbying by the likes of Collins Stewart, Numis and Evolution didn't go unnoticed.)

However, the inclusion, or not, of other types of organization is less clear.

"They now want to limit the scope of the tax to deposit takers or to organisations with a BIPRU 730k capital classification," says Christopher Groves at law firm Withers.

Much now therefore hinges on which organisations fall into the FSA's BIPRU 730k classification.

According to the regulator, BIPRU 730k firms are those which employ, "...financial instruments which enable them to deal on own account in, or underwrite on a firm commitment basis, issues of MiFID financial instruments."

Chris Rexworthy, a former head of wholesale investment firms at the FSA turned director of risk consulting at IMS Consulting, says BIPRU 730k applies to organisations which take principal positions.

"It won't include hedge funds and private equity funds which are investing money on behalf of clients. Boutique advisory firms will also be excluded, unless they are acting as an underwriter to share issues," he says.

Commodity trading houses also appear to have been excluded from The Tax.

Groves points out that the latest announcement isn't binding, however: "This is an announcement that there will be a change rather than any detailed legislation. They've simply said what they'll do in outline terms."