Tax advisers and opposition MPs believe safeguards for human rights under the finance bill are still inadequate despite attempts to amend the bill this month, fearing sweeping new powers for tax inspectors to inspect business premises and records could be used in a draconian way against businesses.

Financial Times reports Jane Kennedy, financial secretary to the Treasury, told MPs in a committee debate in the House of Commons the legislation giving HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) new powers was ‘line with other OECD countries’ and random checks were a recognised part of the Revenue’s activities.

David Furst, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) president, has warned that individual officers could use the new powers ‘in a way which is inappropriate and un¬acceptable’.

John Whiting of the Chartered Institute of Taxation said the HMRC’s powers to gain access to premises could be compared with an old advertising slogan for Martini: ‘Any time, any place, anywhere’, saying the powers, although appropriate for tracking down fraudsters, were too wide.

Further reading:

Government rejects efforts to derail new powers for Revenue staff

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