The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has claimed this week that the UK’s new general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) enacted in July will ‘allow 99% of tax avoidance to continue’. The TUC links to a report written by Richard Murphy director of Tax Research LLP who advises the TUC on taxation issues. The TUC is concerned that the GAAR is so narrow that it would have failed to deal with any of the ‘scandals’ surrounding the taxation of some of the world’s biggest multinationals.
This TUC announcement seems to have received very little press coverage. This is perhaps because there is little or nothing new here and it is too early to assess the impact of the new rule. Besides it is worth remembering that:
The GAAR is not by any means the only weapon in HMRC’s armoury. Many targeted anti-avoidance rules...
