With the GAAR study group due to report back to HM Treasury at the end of this month on the feasibility (and possible form) of a GAAR being introduced in the UK tax directors in corporates and financial institutions already have one eye on the potential risk management implications.
When confronted with one of the existing Targeted Anti-Avoidance Rules (TAARs) a tax director is usually able to draw on two sources of defence: technical arguments and commercial purpose.
The latter is also often referred to as a ‘motive defence’ when explicitly incorporated into a TAAR and it broadly consists of the assertion that tax avoidance is not one of the main purposes...
