Budget rumour machine goes into overdrive

Wednesday 22nd April 2009, 3:00PM BST.

TODAY’S UK Budget is attracting more offshore speculation than normal, with tax increases being widely forecast.

According to Jersey specialist John Shenton (pictured) there may well be an impact on financial services firms, both because of increased regulation and a clampdown on tax avoidance.

‘More rumours than ever are doing the circuit,’ said Mr Shenton, tax partner at Ernst & Young.

‘The UK government is pushing hard the concept of tax morality and virtue, encouraging UK taxpayers to act within the spirit as well as the letter of the law. This will be hard to enforce, but if the debate has moved on from transparency and regulation to avoidance, this will present challenges.’

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1
Fred

April 23, 2009 at 12:08 pm

Of course the debate has moved on from tansparency and regulation to avoidance. I said it before, the UK Government needs all the funds it can get right now and it’s not going to let ANY get away. They have the perfect excuse for a clampdown.

I quote from the Guardian today regarding the budget:
“The chancellor also announced a new amnesty on the super-rich who keep their wealth in tax havens, under which tax evaders will not face prosecution if they agree to pay the back taxes they owe. Tax investigators have contacted major banks to force them to identify clients who may be breaking tax law, though it is unclear whether those banks are co-operating.
Significantly the chancellor also introduced a new “principles-based legislation to counter avoidance”. Andrew Goldstone, tax partner at Mishcon de Reya, said: “This could mark a big departure because it suggests that, in this particular context, if a tax avoidance scheme tries to achieve an end result that the Revenue doesn’t like then they’ll have the power to say it doesn’t work. That’s very different from how targeted anti-avoidance rules have traditionally been used.”

Ah, but this doesn’t happen in these Islands as it’s all legitimate business eh?
……hmmmmm….sure hope so!

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