Tax inspectors swarm over listed company

Hartnett orders in 150

The taxman has unleashed 150 of its inspectors on to one large listed UK company, it has emerged.

HM Revenue & Customs acting chairman Dave Hartnett (above) revealed the move this week as he answered questions on corporation tax issues before MPs.

‘When I meet the chairman of a public company it is to look him straight in the eye to explain why and how we are conducting an investigation. That is why I told the chairman of a public company not many weeks ago that we are putting 150 tax inspectors into his company,’ Hartnett said at a Public Accounts Committee meeting.

Hartnett confirmed that the investigation was one of only ‘half a dozen’ that he had become personally involved in during the past two years. Advisers said allocating 150 inspectors to a single company was a significant step on the part of HMRC.

Hartnett would not name the company or describe the tax issues inspectors would be investigating.

But the acting HMRC boss did say that the taxman was encountering new and aggressive avoidance techniques.

Hartnett said there were pockets of advisers who were designing bespoke, niche avoidance schemes to business, and that a pattern was emerging where companies would move brands into an offshore company and then pay for the use of the brand in order to skirt tax.

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