Helen Lethaby reviews recent developments affecting the City.
Tax in the spotlightNever has tax planning received so much press attention as over the last few months. Regrettably the moral outrage of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) at the strategies deployed by individuals and corporates (in particular US multinationals) to reduce their tax bills and the advisers who promote them makes rather better copy than informed debate. The distinctions between tax evasion tax avoidance and tax planning based on OECD profits attribution and transfer pricing principles are lost on an indignant public and advocates of a more measured approach – including HMRC who have received their share of PAC criticism – are struggling to make themselves heard.
There is however no escaping the fact that international consensus will...
