BKM504050 - The Code commitments – tax planning: introduction
Part 1 of the Code requires banks to comply with the spirit, as well as the letter, of tax law by discerning and following the intentions of Parliament. HMRC views the spirit of the law as being synonymous with following the intentions of Parliament.
Banks that have adopted the Code should not therefore undertake tax planning that aims to achieve a tax result that is contrary to the intentions of Parliament.
Part 3 provides further clarification about what this means in practice:
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- The bank should not engage in tax planning other than that which supports genuine commercial activity.
- 3.1 Transactions should not be structured in a way that will have tax results for the bank that are inconsistent with the underlying economic consequences unless there exists specific legislation designed to give that result. In that case, the bank should reasonably believe that the transaction is structured in a way that gives a tax result for the bank which is not contrary to the intentions of Parliament.
- 3.2 There should be no promotion of arrangements to other parties unless the bank reasonably believes that the tax result of those arrangements for the other parties is not contrary to the intentions of Parliament.
- 3.3 Remuneration packages for bank employees, including senior executives, should be structured so that the bank reasonably believes that the proper amounts of tax and national insurance contributions are paid on the rewards of employment.
BKM507600 covering HMRC’s operation of the Code has examples setting out what Code compliant tax planning looks like and what may give HMRC cause for concern. Where HMRC has a concern over a bank’s compliance with the tax planning commitment it will take action under the Governance Protocol (see BKM506000).
See the following pages for further guidance on the wording used in the Code: