Tax Avoidance No Longer Worth the Risk, Admits Tenon
The Times – 17th may 2012
Britain’s only listed accountancy firm is to close its specialist division in a move that will be regarded as another victory for Revenue & Customs against tax avoidance by the rich.
RSM Tenon said yesterday that it would stop offering products through its Premier Strategies division because recent moves by the Government to clamp down on what it perceives as aggressive tax avoidance had made the tax planning business too difficult and risky. Chris Merry, Tenon’s Chief executive, said : “The market for specialist tax has changed dramatically over the past few years as the Government has tightened legislation. Tailored tax-saving products have in the past had a strong audience, but have become much more difficult to offer.”
Premier, which Tenon acquired in 2004, was one of the leading players in the tax planning industry, which helps companies and wealthy individuals to reduce their tax bills legally. This market has been squeezed in the past five years because the Government has closed loopholes, challenged many schemes in court and brought rules requiring schemes to be disclosed to HMRC.
The industry suffered another blow in the Budget in March when george Osborne capped unlimited tax reliefs, which some taxpayers had been used to reduce their tax liabilities artificially. The Chancellor also promised to introduce a general anti-avoidance rule that would make it easier for HMRC to stop tax arrangements it considers to be illegitimate.
For several years, Premier was one of Tenon’s best-performing divisions, with turnover a 37.1 million in 2008. Its highest –paid director that year – believed to be Mark Edmond , Premier founder – made £3.5 million. But revenue had fallen to 18 million by June 2010, when Premier filed it last full-year accounts, and products had become increasingly hard to devise and market.
There was another blow when its last big off-the-shelf scheme – Aikido, which was designed to allow shareholders in small and medium-sized companies to receive dividends without paing any tax – was shutdown in the Budget.
The Times – 17th may 2012
Britain’s only listed accountancy firm is to close its specialist division in a move that will be regarded as another victory for Revenue & Customs against tax avoidance by the rich.
RSM Tenon said yesterday that it would stop offering products through its Premier Strategies division because recent moves by the Government to clamp down on what it perceives as aggressive tax avoidance had made the tax planning business too difficult and risky. Chris Merry, Tenon’s Chief executive, said : “The market for specialist tax has changed dramatically over the past few years as the Government has tightened legislation. Tailored tax-saving products have in the past had a strong audience, but have become much more difficult to offer.”
Premier, which Tenon acquired in 2004, was one of the leading players in the tax planning industry, which helps companies and wealthy individuals to reduce their tax bills legally. This market has been squeezed in the past five years because the Government has closed loopholes, challenged many schemes in court and brought rules requiring schemes to be disclosed to HMRC.
The industry suffered another blow in the Budget in March when george Osborne capped unlimited tax reliefs, which some taxpayers had been used to reduce their tax liabilities artificially. The Chancellor also promised to introduce a general anti-avoidance rule that would make it easier for HMRC to stop tax arrangements it considers to be illegitimate.
For several years, Premier was one of Tenon’s best-performing divisions, with turnover a 37.1 million in 2008. Its highest –paid director that year – believed to be Mark Edmond , Premier founder – made £3.5 million. But revenue had fallen to 18 million by June 2010, when Premier filed it last full-year accounts, and products had become increasingly hard to devise and market.
There was another blow when its last big off-the-shelf scheme – Aikido, which was designed to allow shareholders in small and medium-sized companies to receive dividends without paing any tax – was shutdown in the Budget.
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