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| CURRENT SECTION :: IR35 / IR591 | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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At a meeting held on 19th March at 11 Downing Street, the death of the EBT and various other IR35 avoidance measures were signalled. The meeting was to set out further details of the Chancellor’s proposals for greater transparency in the market for tax avoidance schemes and arrangements, and of the steps which will be taken to prevent forestalling of the new regime. Details of the proposed new requirements for the disclosure of tax avoidance schemes was set out in the Budget (paragraph 5.84), and in Budget Notices REVBN28 and CEBN01. At the meeting, officials set out details for the implementation of the proposed rules covering direct taxes, which will: 1. Be targeted to catch avoidance schemes and arrangements based on financial or employment-based products; 2. Target taxpayers that devise and use their own schemes; be backed by an initial penalty of up to £5000 for non-disclosure by promoters of notifiable schemes, subject to appeal. Continued failure to disclose will attract a further penalty of £600 a day; 3. Contain transitional provisions to discourage forestalling against the disclosure rules, with a requirement from the date the legislation takes effect to disclose notifiable schemes or arrangements which they have promoted or sold from today. Users of notifiable schemes or arrangements who will have to make a disclosure in place of a promoter (for example, if the scheme was purchased from offshore), would be required to do so for schemes of arrangements dated from 23 April in relation to schemes they have implemented. With such punitive penalties this really does seem to spell the end of a variety of IR35 avoidance schemes, ranging from EBT's, rapidly depreciating foreign currency loans, complex shareholder arrangements and the like. The only thing left now seems to be to arrange ones business affairs in such a way as to be seen to be "self employed" rather than "employed" Mar 22, 2004 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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