Consultations targeting promoters of avoidance schemes and advisers facilitating non-compliance

Of the myriad documents that HMRC has published in recent months there are two consultations that have drawn our attention not so much due to their intended purpose which is fundamentally sound but due to the potential scope for them to have a much wider impact.

The consultations both published alongside the Spring Statement are:

• ‘Closing in on promoters of marketed tax avoidance’; and
• ‘Enhancing HMRC’s powers: tackling tax advisers facilitating non-compliance’.

Both consultations have at their core a focus on closing the tax gap (see HMRC’s Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 – tinyurl.com/hmrctaxgaps). The consultation on promoters is billed as a ‘step change in efforts to close in on the small number of remaining promoters of tax avoidance’. Whereas the document covering tax advisers has a broader scope focused on ‘swifter and stronger...