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A statutory residence test has become a possibility after Jane Kennedy, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, agreed to consider the idea in the Public Bill Committee debating the 2008 Finance Bill.
Up to now, the Government's line had been that after all the recent changes to residence and domicile, it was not going to do anything else for the remainder of this Parliament.
However, the various professional bodies have presented the case for a statutory residence test.
Francesca Lagerberg of Grant Thornton and chairman of the technical committee of the Tax Faculty of the ICAEW said such a test would provide certainty, as under the current regime, proving non-residence can be very difficult as recent cases, e.g. Gaines Cooper, Shepherd, and Grace, have shown.
After hearing the arguments for a statutory residence test, Ms Kennedy agreed that there was an opportunity to introduce the test and she would like to hear views as to what form it should take, etc.
Ms Lagerberg said that this 'is really good news' - although she noted that, at this stage, Ms Kennedy had not committed to introducing the test, but was just agreeing to discuss it.
