Hartnett: Taxman will target 50% tax rate avoidance
Higher earners beware: Ducking the 50% tax rate could see the taxman coming down hard
The taxman will crack down on high earners looking to duck the 50% tax rate
through avoidance schemes.
Dave Hartnett, HMRC permanent secretary of tax, warned that those switching
income tax to capital gains through tax schemes will be kept under “very close
scrutiny”.
“Where such schemes work technically, we will not hesitate to go to our
ministers to ask for a change in legislation,” said Hartnett at a meeting in
Madrid, reported
the
FT.
PwC’s Jon Terry said some tax planning approaches were likely to be
acceptable, if they were genuine commercial arrangements.
A number of potential schemes are mooted. Banks could defer bankers’ bonuses,
or companies could issue share options that, when triggered, employee could pay
income tax on over a long period – potentially at a lower rate of tax if the
higher rate was changed.
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