Revenues and Customs seems set on acting in a less combative manner when trying to resolve tax disputes with businesses.
The change of approach, which is obviously intended to help reduce the legal backlog and free up billions tied up in the courts, was noted recently by Dave Hartnett, the permanent secretary for tax at HMRC whilst speaking to the Financial Times: “HMRC is packed full of very intelligent people, but we are sometimes too black-and-white about the law.” Mr Hartnett added that there had been some examples of officials being too ‘tough’ in tax assessment disputes.
The HMRC are hoping that such measures, part of a larger drive for efficiency, will both lead to a ‘surge’ in revenue over the next two or three years and add to the more business-friendly tone adopted since the coalition took office. Indeed businesses will no doubt welcome such a willingness to be less combative and to settle more cases as further evidence of the new coalition’s warmer relations with the business community.
ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin commented yesterday that such a move can only “signal the taxman focusing more on those contractors clearly within IR35, rather than trying to make the case law with more complex, expensive litigation” and that it remains as important as ever to be IR35 aware.
