MPs call for crackdown on advisors enabling tax avoidance

MPs call for crackdown on advisors enabling tax avoidance

 

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax has called for the UK’s tax system to be simplified and more resources spent on pursuing tax avoiders. Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake pointed to Treasury Select Committee figures showing every £1 spent on enforcement collects £26 in extra revenue. More should be spent on enforcement, he argued, particularly chasing financial advisors that facilitate tax avoidance schemes. He noted that few advisors are ever prosecuted, due to a reluctance – on the part of HMRC and the Treasury – to pursue accountants and other professionals through the courts. Additionally, advisors who have been sanctioned for tax fraud are still able to practice as there is no licensing body for those advising on tax affairs, Hollinrake added. Moreover, multinationals that avoid paying UK taxes undermine trust in the system, he went on, leading mall businesspeople to consider the game “rigged in favour of the big guys.”

City AM

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