The government has published its response to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee report on whether new powers for HMRC are fair and proportionate. Recommendations accepted by the government include:
HMRC should re-examine the triggers for the promoters of tax avoidance schemes (POTAS) rules, to reduce the negative impact on bona fide professional advisers;
current legislation to target POTAS is sufficient but this area should be continuously monitored for areas of improvement;
any action to crack down on POTAS that impacts on HMRC’s ability to stop tax avoidance marketing schemes should be expedient and effective;
taxpayers should be better informed to help them identify tax avoidance schemes, eg a specific communications campaigns setting out what to watch out for;
HMRC should set up a dedicated tax avoidance reporting service to allow ease of reporting by taxpayers; and
any suggestion for new or extended HMRC powers should set out why current powers are insufficient to achieve policy objectives.
The government has published its response to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee report on whether new powers for HMRC are fair and proportionate. Recommendations accepted by the government include:
HMRC should re-examine the triggers for the promoters of tax avoidance schemes (POTAS) rules, to reduce the negative impact on bona fide professional advisers;
current legislation to target POTAS is sufficient but this area should be continuously monitored for areas of improvement;
any action to crack down on POTAS that impacts on HMRC’s ability to stop tax avoidance marketing schemes should be expedient and effective;
taxpayers should be better informed to help them identify tax avoidance schemes, eg a specific communications campaigns setting out what to watch out for;
HMRC should set up a dedicated tax avoidance reporting service to allow ease of reporting by taxpayers; and
any suggestion for new or extended HMRC powers should set out why current powers are insufficient to achieve policy objectives.
