The new financial products hallmark introduced into the DOTAS rules in February 2016 has raised concerns that a wide range of commercial transactions have become disclosable by virtue of the broad drafting of the general rules and the specific exclusions they contain. In the author’s view, however, this is an overreaction. The new hallmark should be considered in the context of the DOTAS regime as a whole, as being intended to apply to structured and aggressive tax arrangements.
