Financial Transparency Coalition

I’ve read the government’s new anti-avoidance strategy for tax. It’s not a good read. For that reason I think a  translation is needed. First of all, as I’ve already noted, the  government has a massive problem in agreeing how big this issue is. That does not help them politically, and undermines much of the forward. Whatever the issue then is, the strategy is laid out in four parts, each being allocated a chapter in their paper. Chapter one says there is a strategy. It’s a little hard to work out what it is due to use of a weird graphic, but...

I have the following comment on the Guardian site this afternoon: George Osborne said this was a budget to tackle avoidance. How wrong he was. Lawyers and accountants all over the country must be jumping for joy this afternoon – unless they’re in the Channel Islands. Employee benefit trusts – often based in Jersey – are going to be hit hard by this budget, and rightly so. These are last remnants of the age-old pursuit of avoiding PAYE. If they’re consigned to history Osborne’s done at least one thing right. And Osborne gets full marks* for tackling another abuse long overdue to...

Caroline Lucas MP, leader of the UK Green Party, yesterday tabled a Bill in the House of Commons that would require country-by-country reporting by all UK companies for all their activities. Clause 3 of her Tax and Financial Transparency Bill 2011 says:

Financial transparency: companies and trusts (1)Every company, including a parent company, incorporated in or operating in the United Kingdom must publish in its annual financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 an analysis of the consolidated turnover and profit made by it in each jurisdiction in which it has a permanent establishment for taxation purposes as defined...

Tax Research UK published a new report this weekend on the administration of the UK’s Register of Companies by Companies House, the agency responsible for it on behalf of the UK government’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. The report extended the review to look at the administration of corporation tax returns by H M Revenue & Customs, the UK’s tax agency. In combination these are the two main agencies with responsibility for registering and regulating companies in the UK. The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development funded the study.