Revenue watch: HMRC's LPI

HMRC's 'Lease Premium Initiative' is an attempt by HMRC to seek resolution of a number of long-running enquiries into certain arrangements for the provision of accommodation to employees on favourable tax terms without having to take the cases to the Tax Tribunal. Under the initiative employers are being invited by HMRC to contact named officers of their Specialist Investigations section by 6 August 2010 at the latest to register an interest in reaching a settlement. Thereafter there is no deadline for reaching a settlement although it is known that HMRC expects continuing contact with the employer and their co-operation in finalising matters as soon as practicable. This in itself is an interesting and welcome development. A previous initiative concerning Conditional Shares planning produced a great deal of last-minute activity to finalise calculations and to...