‘Back to the drawing board’: City lawyers criticise HMRC efforts to curb tax avoidance

The proposals received a robust response from the City of London Law Society, with the chair of the City’s well-regarded tax law committee, Philip Harle of Hogan Lovells, writing: “We agree with very little of what is proposed (other than that it is right to do something to tackle the promoters of mass-marketed avoidance schemes).”

Harle added: “We would like to clarify that we think HMRC and the Treasury need to go back to the drawing board with this set of proposals. We are not just talking about unnecessary costs, burdens and jeopardy for honest taxpayers resulting from the actions of a small number of bad actors. We are talking about proposals that breach established fundamental human rights, the rule of law and constitutional conventions.”