CIOT: Budget response: General anti-avoidance rule raises concerns
The prospect of a General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) for the payment of taxes raises many concerns, says the CIOT.
A government press notice published alongside the Budget states that “the Government intends to examine whether the option of a General Anti-Avoidance Rule should form one element of strengthened defences.”
John Whiting, CIOT Tax Policy Director said:
“We are happy to examine the idea of a GAAR, although the underlying concerns that existed when this was looked at in 1999 remain. To provide certainty, a clearance mechanism would be needed; to provide fairness, some of the existing clutter of anti-avoidance rules would have to be abolished.
“Much has changed since a GAAR was last looked at: we have the successful disclosure regime; we have ‘TAARs’ (Targeted Anti-Avoidance Rules) and we have the Courts taking a much stronger line on avoidance. Given all of these, a key question will be whether a GAAR is necessary or adds anything.”
Notes to Editors
1. The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is a charity and the leading professional body in the United Kingdom concerned solely with taxation. The CIOT’s primary purpose is to promote education and study of the administration and practice of taxation. One of the key aims is to achieve a better, more efficient, tax system for all affected by it – taxpayers, advisers and the authorities.
The CIOT’s comments and recommendations on tax issues are made solely in order to achieve its primary purpose: it is politically neutral in its work. The CIOT will seek to draw on its members’ experience in private practice, government, commerce and industry and academia to argue and explain how public policy objectives (to the extent that these are clearly stated or can be discerned) can most effectively be achieved.
The CIOT’s 15,000 members have the practising title of ‘Chartered Tax Adviser’.
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George Crozier
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The Chartered Institute of Taxation
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www.tax.org.uk
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