Revenue issues 'plain English' tax warning

Published on Saturday 10 April 2004 01:00

THE Inland Revenue has moved to head off any unscrupulous lawyers and accountants following the publication of the finance bill, warning them that the details of tax avoidance schemes they are now required to submit must be written in "plain English".

The Revenue fears that some tax advisors may try to disguise the nature of their tax avoidance schemes by using complicated language and legal jargon.

"A small number of promoters will, we expect, expend time and money in trying to disguise the scheme under layers of detail - so promoters will be expected to comply by providing a plain English description of the scheme," a spokesman said.

The regulations come about as the government published its finance bill, aimed at implementing a sweeping crackdown on tax avoidance schemes and ending the corporation tax loophole.

However, even before the detail of the new notification system was published, leading tax advisors were already talking about a sea change in the delivery of tax advice.

One leading Edinburgh-based advisor said that she believed it would mean an end to mass marketing of tax avoidance schemes.

Instead she believed that advisors would process a dozen or so clients on one scheme, pushing them through together while at the same time notifying the Revenue, which would be too late to take any action to close the door.