The total recorded yield from HMRC settlements relating to controlled foreign companies legislation in the financial years 2007/08 to 2009/10 is estimated at £719 million, David Gauke said in a Commons written answer.
A new section of the Spotlights page features schemes where taxpayers ‘have conceded and paid the tax they had tried to avoid,’ HMRC announced.
HMRC has emphasised that it never ‘approves’ tax avoidance schemes. Some promoters or introducers for certain schemes are advertising products as ‘HMRC approved’, the department said.
Tax advisers have warned that uncertainty caused by a general anti-avoidance rule could harm the UK’s competitiveness.
The Government has asked Graham Aaronson, a tax barrister specialising in commercial taxation, to lead a study into a general anti-avoidance rule. In the meantime a number of specific anti-avoidance measures have been announced, some with immediate effect.
A competitive corporate tax system is not just about rates, the Treasury said as it launched five consultations.
The top 15 banks operating in the UK have now adopted the Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks, the Chancellor announced. ‘Alongside the Bank Levy, this shows that the Coalition Government is taking action to ensure banks pay their fair share,’ George Osborne said.
‘Many banks, particularly US institutions, had been reluctant to sign up to an extra-statutory code [the Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks] because of uncertainty over its implications,’ the Financial Times reported (30 November).
The Government has estimated that there are 190 open HMRC enquiries under the controlled foreign companies legislation, said Mark Hoban in a Commons written answer.
The Tax Avoidance Schemes (Prescribed Descriptions of Arrangements) (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2010/2834, amend with effect from 1 January 2011 some of the descriptions of schemes that are required to be disclosed, in order to ‘improve their focus upon tax avoidance’.