HM Revenue and Customs has invited comments on proposals to "modernise" the department's bulk and specialist information powers. One proposal being considered is a power to seek the identities of taxpayers using a disclosable tax avoidance scheme.
The current issue of Tolley's Practical Tax newsletter (17 July) has more on this and other developments including:
- Country-by-country tax reporting is on the transparency agenda. The UK government is discussing with international partners whether the reform, among other initiatives, could offer "an effective and suitable means of advancing the transparency agenda". (See my earlier post on this.)
- Finance Bill update including several government amendments at the Commons report stage.
- Banks will be expected to act within "the spirit of the law". A draft code of practice on tax for the banking sector includes a requirement that when a banking business provides a service to customers it "will not promote arrangements that would give a result contrary to the intentions of parliament".
- Pensions tax relief changes "undermine incentives to save" says the National Association of Pension Funds.
- HMRC overtime "masks impact of job cuts" says the Public and Commercial Services Union as 70,000 HMRC staff begin an overtime ban.
