Tax dodgers should be "named and shamed" to discourage the rich and famous from using legal loopholes to avoid paying the taxman, a spending watchdog says.
The Public Accounts Committee says HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is missing out on £5bn a year.
It found some tax avoidance promoters were "running rings" around HMRC.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband says firms in the UK should publish the amount of tax they pay in the country.
Mr Miliband has already called for greater transparency in corporate tax bills, but speaking during a visit to Scandinavia, he said if international action failed to deliver a change in corporate behaviour, the government should take action at home.
'Boutique' schemesThe House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report warned that the taxman was losing the "game of cat and mouse" to clients and promoters of tax avoidance schemes as they deliberately took advantage of the time it takes HMRC to shut down a particular method.
HMRC must start publicly listing promoters and those who use their schemes, the committee said.
Last year comedian Jimmy Carr admitted making a "terrible error of judgment" after it emerged he used a complex scheme to reduce his tax bill. The K2 tax-avoidance scheme Carr is said to have used enabled members to pay income tax rates as low as 1%.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the committee, said: "Promoters of 'boutique' tax avoidance schemes like the one brought to our attention by the case of Jimmy Carr, are running rings around HMRC.
"They create schemes which exploit loopholes in legislation or abuse available tax reliefs such as those intended to encourage investment in British films, and then sign up as many clients as possible, knowing that it will take time for HMRC to change the law and shut the scheme down."
Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of tax at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, says naming and shaming is a dangerous game to play.
"Where do you draw the line?" he said.
"There isn't a clear cliff edge between what you could say is acceptable tax planning and what is unacceptable tax avoidance. I think there's some difficulty in terms of where do you pitch it in terms of where you name and shame."
'Anti-abuse rule'
Tax rules mean promoters must notify HMRC of new avoidance schemes, which has led to the swift closure of some, according to the PAC's report.
But it warned that officials do not know how many promoters are ignoring the requirement.
End Quote HMRCThe government recently announced an extra £77m in HMRC funding to tackle evasion and aggressive avoidance"
Mrs Hodge said: "We are also alarmed to hear that promoters are getting off paying fines for not disclosing their schemes by pleading that, in the opinion of a QC, they have a 'reasonable excuse' for non-disclosure. HMRC is right to explore how to make it more difficult for this tactic to work.
"The number of cases HMRC takes to court is tiny compared to the overall caseload. It must make use of the additional resources it has been given to act much more urgently to investigate and close down new schemes and to bring more cases to court."
Welcoming the report, an HMRC spokesman said: "In the last year alone the courts have ruled in HMRC's favour in multiple tax avoidance cases where over £1bn has been protected.
"Additionally the government recently announced an extra £77m in HMRC funding to tackle evasion and aggressive avoidance; we have also already consulted on strengthening the regulations around these schemes; and, for the first time ever, this government is introducing a general anti-abuse rule which will make it even harder for people to avoid paying their share of tax."
A recent meeting of finance ministers of the G20 group of nations in Moscow pledged to crack down on tax avoidance by multinational companies.
The move, led by the UK, France and Germany, could see the development of measures to stop firms shifting profits from a home country to pay less tax elsewhere.
But Mr Miliband says ministers should be prepared to act domestically if international moves do not work.
The Labour leader says, if he were in power, he would consider using legislation to enforce transparency which, he believes, has produced results in countries such as Denmark and Sweden.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Tax avoiders 'named and shamed'
Dengan url
http://sarapanoatmeal.blogspot.com/2013/02/tax-avoiders-named-and-shamed.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Tax avoiders 'named and shamed'
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Tax avoiders 'named and shamed'
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar