Raising the standard

KEY POINTS

• Public interest in tax has risen in recent years.
• Risks to the participants and promoters of marketed tax schemes.
• The revised Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation contains a new standard on tax planning.
• Importance of giving clients information reflecting the views of all sides.

For hundreds of years professionals in the UK and elsewhere have enjoyed privileges in the exercise of their profession. Society grants the professional a special standing and in return professionals through their training and qualification make a commitment to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards – and to act in the public interest.

In 2015 the government asked ‘the regulatory bodies who police professional standards to take on a greater lead and responsibility in setting and enforcing clear professional standards around the facilitation and promotion...