https://www.gov.uk/government/news/t...-tax-avoidance
The above is published today by HMRC.
To put this in context. HMRC has previously issued versions of this and this is just one more iteration. It is entirely HMRC centric and some of the statements made are potentially misleading. In particular it does not mention that the goalposts of what is tax avoidance or not have moved a vast distance in the past 10 years and what was seen as acceptable in 2004 is now firmly the wrong side of the line. A lot of those situations have yet to be tested in Court.
The "8 out of 10" claim is spurious. HMRC has won a lot of cases because they have permitted only certain cases to reach Court. Over the long period (another 5 years) the success rate will fall.
Crucially, there is still no definition of tax avoidance that is worth its salt.
The list is a relatively decent indicator of the general position but please don't panic over the detail as almost all of it can be challenged.
The above is published today by HMRC.
To put this in context. HMRC has previously issued versions of this and this is just one more iteration. It is entirely HMRC centric and some of the statements made are potentially misleading. In particular it does not mention that the goalposts of what is tax avoidance or not have moved a vast distance in the past 10 years and what was seen as acceptable in 2004 is now firmly the wrong side of the line. A lot of those situations have yet to be tested in Court.
The "8 out of 10" claim is spurious. HMRC has won a lot of cases because they have permitted only certain cases to reach Court. Over the long period (another 5 years) the success rate will fall.
Crucially, there is still no definition of tax avoidance that is worth its salt.
The list is a relatively decent indicator of the general position but please don't panic over the detail as almost all of it can be challenged.
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