Grant Thornton urges ban on patenting tax advice

Grant Thornton has called on the US to delay finalising proposed regulations which add a patented transactions category to the list of reportable transactions, while Congress considers an appropriate legislative solution.

‘Tax advice and tax strategies are rooted in public law,’ Mark Stutman, Grant Thornton managing partner, taxation services, said in a letter to the US Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, Tax.News.com reports.

‘Granting a patent on such strategies and advice allows the patent holder to control or charge another taxpayer for applying law enacted for the potential benefit of every taxpayer. This is unfair and should not be allowed.’

'Our view is that, permitting tax advice or tax strategies to be patented undermines confidence in the tax system and should be legislatively precluded. Tax advice and tax strategies are rooted in public law.'

He also said attempts to regulate the use of tax patents through additional disclosure obligations would introduce inefficiencies, uncertainties and considerable taxpayer burdens into the tax compliance process.

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