Corporate tax clearance pilots go live
Pilot testing pre-clearance of large business tax plans to go ahead
A pilot testing out the taxman’s new policy of pre-clearing businesses’
complex tax arrangements has been rolled out this month.
The pilot, a cornerstone of plans to improve relations between large business
and HM Revenue & Customs, will be tested on retailers dealing with HMRC’s
large business service and businesses who work with North West & Midlands
group of Local Compliance.
The roll-out of the pilots will be welcomed by advisers and large businesses,
who see the policy as a way to bring more certainty to the tax system.
The policy, part of the Varney Review of HMRC’s relationship with large
business, will see HMRC examine the tax consequences of large transactions and
provide a view of where the taxman stands to businesses.
The pilot will run for the first few months of 2008. HMRC says it will
evaluate the nature of the clearances sought, overall take-up of the extended
regime, and the resources HMRC is able to deploy, to ensure the new policy
‘meets the objective of providing businesses with certainty and consistency’.
An external research company has been appointed to survey users on there
thoughts about the efficacy of clearances.
Further reading:
Read
more from HMRC on the pilot
Concerns escalate over Varney review
obstacles