HMRC is now willing to negotiate means-based settlements with users of tax avoidance arrangements, such that the taxpayer is not required to pay the full amount of accrued tax and interest, according to law firm Stewarts.
The firm says that ‘HMRC has historically taken a rigid approach to settling tax avoidance arrangements,’ invariably requiring the avoidance scheme users to agree to pay the full amount of tax and accrued interest if it believed the planning did not work or had been defeated in the tax courts.
However, Lisa Vanderheide and Sarah Stenton, Directors in Stewarts’ Tax Litigation and Investigations team, say that senior personnel in HMRC's Counter Avoidance Directorate now recognise that many such investors do not think they would ever be able to meet the full liability even if spread out over a time-to-pay arrangement. Such investors regard their difficulties as ‘insurmountable’ and may avoid discussing a settlement with HMRC.
According to the firm, HMRC therefore is taking this new approach of means-based settlements to encourage investors to come forward. A new team in HMRC, led by experienced senior investigators, is handling cases under the new approach.
News Source：【 STEP 2021/05/13】