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A statutory mugging

16 March 2010 / Rob Durrant-Walker
Issue: 4247 / Categories: Comment & Analysis , Working with Tax Agents , Admin
ROB DURRANT-WALKER wonders if HMRC are carrying a concealed weapon within the draft legislation on working with agents

KEY POINTS

  • Will the use of statutory instruments enable ‘power creep’ by HMRC?
  • The level of Parliamentary scrutiny for SIs.
  • The likelihood of an SI being annulled.
  • Should power be delegated into secondary legislation?
  • There is still time to comment on the draft legislation.

Mike Truman rightly gives the draft legislation Working with Tax Agents a good seeing to with a baseball bat and a Glasgow kiss in his article Having a laugh?

I am raising the alarm on the ignoble inclusion in that draft legislation of a wide freedom for HMRC to make future amendments by statutory instrument (SI) thereby raising the possibility of future changes by the back door with little consultation or scrutiny by Parliament or anyone else.

HMRC said in their previous summary...

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