Settlement opportunity for tax schemes using gearing

HMRC has launched a settlement opportunity for tax schemes which use gearing to maximise relief but does it go far enough to encourage participants to settle?

The schemes covered are those accessing film relief for production expenditure those creating losses in partnerships through capital allowances or payments for restrictive covenants and those using GAAP to create losses by writing off expenditure or the value of assets.

The settlement opportunity does not currently apply to film partnership sale and lease back schemes or schemes that result in a claim to interest relief used as a deduction against general income – possibly because the issues have been tried already and are under appeal for example Samarkand/Proteus [2011] UKFTT 610 (TC) and Eclipse [2012] UKFTT 270...