Key points
- Promoters of aggressive tax schemes nowadays are rarely members of one of the professional bodies.
- Would regulation prevent determined individuals selling schemes to clients?
- The law and courts determine how the tax code works and HMRC should uphold the law rather than react to public outrage.
I read with interest ‘Regulation – the way forward?’ by Allison Plager (Taxation 10 November page 8) reporting on a discussion on whether the tax advisory market is sufficiently regulated. This was particularly interesting as I had recently attended a parliamentary round table event regarding prosecution of promoters of tax avoidance schemes where the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax suggested that more regulation of the profession is necessary. A number of thoughts sprung to mind.
Most advisers act in their clients’ interests
First by suggesting that we need more regulation the implication is that...