The government makes its own decisions on tax policy and does not take lectures from big business, the CBI’s Director General has told a BBC Panorama programme investigating ‘massive tax savings’ made by multinationals through transactions with Luxembourg subsidiaries.
A new initiative to provide international auditing expertise and advice to help developing countries ‘better address tax base erosion, including tax evasion and avoidance’ has been launched by the OECD’s Informal Task Force on Tax and Development.
Five bodies representing freelancers and small businesses on HMRC’s IR35 Forum claim that new guidance on rules to counter tax avoidance via personal service companies ‘fails to take into account key elements in their advice’, according to PCG (formerly the Professional Contractors Group).
Helen Lethaby provides your regular briefing, which this month includes the decision in Eclipse, developments concerning the proposed financial transactions tax, and the informal consultation on lease premium rules.
Paula Tallon answers a question on corporate partners and loans made to companies.
Roopa Aitken and Hannah Tilson consider the implications of the Advocate General's opinion in the Philips case.
‘India will delay the introduction of wide-ranging proposed tax avoidance laws by one year, in a move designed to placate international investors worried over increasingly erratic legal changes.
Tax professionals have welcomed new HMRC guidance on the application of the Senior Accounting Officer legislation but have drawn attention to ‘significant changes’ in HMRC’s position, including the end of the ‘light touch’ approach.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has warned that ‘massive’ offshore tax evasion and avoidance cause ‘serious harm to the public interest’ in Europe and elsewhere, and particularly in developing countries.
Country by country reporting of profits and taxes paid is ‘essential’ for detecting corporate tax avoidance, according to MEPs who adopted by 538 votes to 73 a resolution on ‘concrete ways to combat tax fraud and tax evasion’. There were 32 abstentions.