Tax: an afterthought or a motive?

Most people will know that where there is tax there is tax avoidance. I believe the extent to which a person will go to mitigate the liability depends on a number of factors including:

• whether this is a one-off transaction or an ongoing arrangement;
• the value of the transaction(s);
• the individual’s risk appetite;
• the quantum of tax arising as a result of the transaction(s);
• the complexity of arrangements required to mitigate the tax; and
• the net amount retained after adviser’s fees etc. In general most people don’t want to save money on a transaction to lose it all paying advisers’ fees. The individuals tend to be motivated by the bottom line rather than a specific need to mitigate costs.

What’s fair?

However when it comes to tax specifically taxpayers’ choices can be affected by how effective and ‘fair’ they consider the tax system is and...