Disclosure by promoters meaning

In this issue: Anti-avoidance Stamp and transfer taxes VAT Individuals and income tax International Employment taxes Taxes management and litigation Individuals and income tax Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Anti-avoidance HMRC updates DOTAS guidance On 14 May 2025, HMRC released refreshed guidance on the disclosure of tax avoidance schemes (DOTAS). Several parts have been revised to take account of conclusions reached in recently determined tribunal cases. HMRC also notes changes to improve clarity around the obligations of promoters and suppliers, highlighted in section 14.2 of the guidance. Section 14.2 sets out a supplier’s duty, in relation to relevant or proposed arrangements, to notify clients of the reference number allocated by HMRC after a notice is issued under section 310D of the Finance Act 2004. See: LNB News 23/05/2025 19...

HMRC v Asset House Piccadilly Ltd [2025] UKFTT 206 (TC) HMRC applied, pursuant to section 314A of the Finance Act 2004 (FA 2004), for an order that AHP’s 'corporate remuneration trust scheme' arrangements were notifiable arrangements within FA 2004, s 306(1). Those arrangements, put in place by AHP, allowed directors to extract profits from the company without an income tax charge, by having loans advanced in place of a reduced salary. In its application, HMRC specified AHP as the 'promoter' of the arrangements. The FTT held that the arrangements were notifiable under FA 2004, s 306(1) because they enabled participants to obtain a tax advantage; the securing of that advantage was a main benefit; and the arrangements fell within the prescribed descriptions of confidentiality, premium fee and standardised tax products. Accordingly, they were notifiable under FA 2004, s 306(1)...

Levying penalties against those who enable defeated tax avoidance arrangements is intended to deter the architects, sellers and intermediaries of abusive avoidance structures and arrangements. Rolling out and strengthening this statutory framework forms part of a wider governmental drive, developed over a number of years, to eradicate tax evasion and aggressive tax planning. Complementary actions in this sphere encompass the general anti‑abuse rule (GAAR); issuing conduct notices to promoters of tax avoidance schemes (POTAS); creating criminal offences for promoters and offshore tax evaders; and publishing a further revised edition of the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation guidance (see General principles of tax avoidance—Private Client—overview for further details). At Spring Statement 2025 on 26 March 2025, the government opened a consultation on a package of measures aimed at tightening the net around promoters (and other enablers) of marketed tax avoidance, with the consultation open until 18 June 2025, as set out by government...

OECD’s Model Mandatory Disclosure Rules The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its model Mandatory Disclosure Rules (MDR) covering Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Avoidance Arrangements and Offshore Structures in March 2018, with the objective of achieving country-by-country alignment in applying disclosure and transparency to combat aggressive tax planning worldwide. The model MDR are described as ‘the model rules’ in The International Tax Enforcement (Disclosable Arrangements) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/38 (the MDR regulations), which bring the MDR into effect in the UK. In this Practice Note, references to the model rules and the model MDR are to the OECD’s model MDR. References to the MDR and MDR regulations denote the rules in SI 2023/38 that implement the model MDR domestically. Under the model rules, taxpayers and their advisers must provide tax authorities with information on specified arrangements and structures that could enable tax evasion. Where jurisdictions have implemented the rules, their tax authorities exchange this data with the authority in the jurisdiction of the taxpayer’s residence. Implementation of...

FORTHCOMING CHANGES : At Budget 2025, the government confirmed it will legislate via Finance Bill 2026 (also referred to as Finance (No 2) Bill 2024–26) to introduce measures aimed at promoters or enablers of marketed tax avoidance. These proposals appear in Part 6 of the Bill, as introduced on 4 December 2025, and include: Updates to the DOTAS and DASVOIT civil penalty regime, enabling HMRC to issue DOTAS penalties directly without needing tribunal approval; A general ban on promoting marketed arrangements that have no realistic prospect of success, plus a ban on promoting arrangements identified in universal stop regulations (USRs). Breaching either ban could trigger sanctions including publication, financial penalties, and criminal prosecution; Promoter action notices (PAN), compelling businesses to stop supplying goods or services to tax avoidance promoters where those goods or services are used to promote avoidance and the promoter is in breach of a USR or a stop notice. PANs will principally be issued to financial institutions, insurance companies, and social...