In his presentation at the Oracle tax conference Robert Baird made a comment that people waiting for a new LAM "shouldn't hold their breath." He went on to say that HMRC accepted the need for a new LAM but due to resource constraints it was proving difficult to find the time to produce the new material.
However, HMRC's guidance on the GAAR includes a discussion of when an established practice is evidence that an arrangement is not abusive. C5.12.3 of the guidance reads as follows
"Taking the “established practice” first, this is not defined in the legislation, and
therefore has its ordinary meaning. Established practice may be demonstrated by
reference to published material (whether from HMRC, or text books or articles in
journals)"
Accordingly HMRC's reluctance to produce published guidance on the taxation of life assurance potentially extends the application of the GAAR. I think we have progressed from the stage when guidance was essentially an internal HMRC process that was shared with the tax payer. As the GAAR guidance shows HMRC manuals are key in providing certainty to tax payers and ensuring consistency in the application of legislation by HMRC. If there are short term problems in updating the guidance then I would think that all that would be required would be a statement that the old LAM continues to be valid guidance except for an area where it has been superseded by the Finance Act 2012 regime.
A link to the GAAR guidance is below
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/avoidance/gaar-part-abc.pdf
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