HMRC’s head of tax was set to face questions from MPs today over a settlement with Goldman Sachs in which the bank was ‘forgiven’ interest of £10m on a failed tax avoidance scheme, according to reports in Private Eye and today’s Guardian.
HMRC’s head of tax was set to face questions from MPs today over a settlement with Goldman Sachs in which the bank was ‘forgiven’ interest of £10m on a failed tax avoidance scheme, according to reports in Private Eye and today’s Guardian.
‘Documents leaked to Private Eye magazine and published in full by the Guardian record that [HMRC's permanent secretary Dave Hartnett] personally shook hands on a secret settlement last December,’ the Guardian reported.
HMRC sources ‘admit privately that the interest-free deal is "a cock-up" by officials, but refuse to say who was responsible’, according to the report.
The published minutes appear to show that HMRC general counsel Anthony Inglese ‘referred to the difficulty all those present at [a meeting on 8 December 2010] were having in justifying a settlement without an interest element’.
Private Eye has suggested that the ‘interest-free deal’ may have breached HMRC’s own litigation and setttlement strategy as well as giving the bank five years’ ‘free money’.
Hartnett told MPs on the Treasury Committee last month that taxpayer confidentiality prevented him from discussing the Goldman Sachs settlement.
But the Guardian has also published today a note of a discussion of legal advice received by HMRC, which appears to indicate that ‘Treasury counsel James Eadie QC advised the HMRC board in 2009 that [Hartnett] was free to disclose information on cases such as that of Goldman Sachs to parliamentary committees, at his own discretion’.
HMRC said in a statement published today on its website: ‘Several newspapers have run a story today relating to leaked documents from HMRC. The picture presented is incomplete and therefore fundamentally flawed but taxpayer confidentiality prevents us from correcting the story in detail.
‘HMRC's Permanent Secretary for Tax Dave Hartnett’s long career in the tax service has been built on ensuring the right tax is paid by large businesses and individuals alike. HMRC does not do “sweetheart” deals.’
Goldman Sachs declined to comment when contacted by Tax Journal.
HMRC’s head of tax was set to face questions from MPs today over a settlement with Goldman Sachs in which the bank was ‘forgiven’ interest of £10m on a failed tax avoidance scheme, according to reports in Private Eye and today’s Guardian.
HMRC’s head of tax was set to face questions from MPs today over a settlement with Goldman Sachs in which the bank was ‘forgiven’ interest of £10m on a failed tax avoidance scheme, according to reports in Private Eye and today’s Guardian.
‘Documents leaked to Private Eye magazine and published in full by the Guardian record that [HMRC's permanent secretary Dave Hartnett] personally shook hands on a secret settlement last December,’ the Guardian reported.
HMRC sources ‘admit privately that the interest-free deal is "a cock-up" by officials, but refuse to say who was responsible’, according to the report.
The published minutes appear to show that HMRC general counsel Anthony Inglese ‘referred to the difficulty all those present at [a meeting on 8 December 2010] were having in justifying a settlement without an interest element’.
Private Eye has suggested that the ‘interest-free deal’ may have breached HMRC’s own litigation and setttlement strategy as well as giving the bank five years’ ‘free money’.
Hartnett told MPs on the Treasury Committee last month that taxpayer confidentiality prevented him from discussing the Goldman Sachs settlement.
But the Guardian has also published today a note of a discussion of legal advice received by HMRC, which appears to indicate that ‘Treasury counsel James Eadie QC advised the HMRC board in 2009 that [Hartnett] was free to disclose information on cases such as that of Goldman Sachs to parliamentary committees, at his own discretion’.
HMRC said in a statement published today on its website: ‘Several newspapers have run a story today relating to leaked documents from HMRC. The picture presented is incomplete and therefore fundamentally flawed but taxpayer confidentiality prevents us from correcting the story in detail.
‘HMRC's Permanent Secretary for Tax Dave Hartnett’s long career in the tax service has been built on ensuring the right tax is paid by large businesses and individuals alike. HMRC does not do “sweetheart” deals.’
Goldman Sachs declined to comment when contacted by Tax Journal.
