A changed climate

KEY POINTS

• Recovering the costs of failed tax-planning schemes.
• Which costs might be recoverable?
• What contractual terms applied and was the advice of the required standard?
• The importance of counsel’s opinion.

Avoiding tax is unpopular at the moment. The unfortunate staff of Vodafone Top Shop HSBC Barclays and even Boots have seen their stores targeted by demonstrators confident of their ability to understand the complexities of corporate taxation.

HMRC have been strident in their condemnation of legal tax avoidance deliberately eliding the distinction between such avoidance and criminal tax evasion.

The government feels called upon to ‘consult’ on a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) although it too seems unable to distinguish between avoidance and evasion having provided an extra £900 million to combat one or the other – it doesn’t seem...