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ANTI AVOIDANCE


Following HMRC’s recent consultation paper and proposed response document and draft legislation ahead of the Autumn Statement, Peter Kiernan and Manraj Somal (KPMG) answer questions on plans to make corporations criminally liable for tax evasion.
 
The decision in Lloyds Bank Leasing illustrates an inherent problem with TAARs which employ purpose-based tests to restrict the availability of tax expenditure reliefs: since the point of tax reliefs is to alter taxpayer behaviour, why then should taxpayers be denied relief for responding accordingly? 
 

Richard Collier and Philip Greenfield (PwC) review OECD's recommendations after publication this week of its final package of 13 reports constituting its base erosion and profit-shifting (BEPS) action plan.

The OECD has issued its final base erosion and profit-shifting (BEPS) recommendations to combat annual revenue losses estimated at US$100–240bn. The challenge now is to ensure measures are implemented consistently and coherently.

OECD recommendations hailed as ‘important milestone’, and the challenge now is to ensure measures are implemented consistently and coherently.

William Watson (Slaughter and May) considers whether the forthcoming regime TAAR for loan relationships will be less problematic than what currently exists. 
 
Finance Act 2015 introduced a new tax on diverted profits from 1 April 2015 that has potentially wide application to both UK and non-UK business with activities in the UK. Ben Jones and Cathryn Vanderspar (Eversheds) provide an overview of this new tax and examine key points.
 

David Boneham (Deloitte) reviews a recent First-tier tribunal decision that uses FA 1996 s 84(1) – the ‘fairly represent’ loan relationship rule – as an anti-avoidance provision stopping accounting principles being used as a way of taking profits out of the tax net.

A survey conducted by Christian Aid suggests that a large majority of FTSE companies would not actively oppose the introduction of a legal requirement for them to make their country by country reports public, while some would actively support it.

The government is consulting until 23 October 2015 on the impact the current anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regime is having on business, and specifically the role of supervisors in that regime. See www.bit.ly/1PCnZ05.

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