Retrospective legislation and ECHR
HMRC recently issued letters to approximately 1,000 taxpayers with income in excess of £150,000 whose effective tax rate is 22% or less.
The cut in the top rate of income tax from 50% to 45% set up a tax avoidance opportunity. The numbers suggest plenty took advantage of it, David Smith reports
HMRC’s Fast facts online publication trumpets ‘record revenues’ for the UK, but the department should be careful in the way it puts its message across, writes Andrew Hubbard
Peter Vaines considers two recent cases where the tribunal seems to be taking a sympathetic view about reasonable excuses
HMRC has published a guidance note on FB 2014 (Part 5 and Schs 30–32), promoters of tax avoidance schemes. It contains a flowchart and examples. The guidance explains that the objectives of the regime are to:
Had the parties settled?
Few advisers will be surprised at the First-tier Tribunal’s rejection of the highly artificial ‘blue box’ tax planning scheme. David Whiscombe examines the decision which provides a useful summary of the current position on the Ramsay principle