ICAS gives oral evidence to House of Lords Inquiry
We now know that there will not be an autumn budget. However, some aspects of the UK Finance Bill process continue. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee Finance Bill Sub-Committee is currently holding an inquiry into the draft Finance Bill.
ICAS has submitted written evidence to the sub-committee. We were also pleased to be asked to give oral evidence, alongside the CIOT and ICAEW on 5 October.
The committee and its inquiry
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has an interest in tax matters but their remit in relation to any Finance Bill is limited. As a result, the Finance Bill Sub Committee (FBSC), which is appointed each year, considers aspects of the Finance Bill from the point of view of issues of tax administration, technical clarification and simplification rather than on rates or incidence of tax.
This year the FBSC is looking at the following aspects of the draft bill:
- New proposals for tackling promoters and enablers of tax avoidance schemes (ICAS submitted a response to the consultation on this recently)
- New tax checks on licence renewal applications (ICAS hasnot received any feedback from members on these proposals; our evidence therefore concentrated on the broader issue of liaison between Westminster and the devolved administrations, given that licence renewal is a devolved matter)
- Amendments to HMRC’s civil information powers (ICAS submitted a response to the original consultation in 2018)
- Notification of uncertain tax treatments by large businesses (again, ICAS has submitted a response to the recent consultation)
- Corporate Interest Restriction (CIR) – technical amendments
We were delighted that ICAS was asked to contribute to the Finance Bill Sub-Committee’s inquiry and we look forward to seeing the report in due course.
The ICAS Tax Board is responsible for putting forward the views of the ICAS tax community; ICAS also has a public interest remit, a duty to act not solely for its members but for the wider good. From a public interest perspective, our role is to share insights from ICAS members into the many complex issues and decisions involved in tax and financial system design, and to point out operational practicalities.
