Reasons to protect the term ‘tax adviser’

I read with interest ‘Regulation – the way forward?’ by Allison Plager (Taxation 10 November page 8) reporting on a discussion on whether the tax advisory market is sufficiently regulated. This was particularly interesting as I had recently attended a parliamentary round table event regarding prosecution of promoters of tax avoidance schemes where the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax suggested that more regulation of the profession is necessary. A number of thoughts sprung to mind.

Most advisers act in their clients’ interests

First by suggesting that we need more regulation the implication is that tax advisers are ‘rogue’ and are not acting in the best interests of their clients. This is simply untrue in the vast majority of cases.

Qualified advisers rarely promote schemes

Second tax advisers who come up with aggressive tax avoidance schemes nowadays tend to be those...