LONDON: The United Kingdom has recently introduced legislation that will require covered businesses (see below) to prepare and publish (publicly) an annual statement about their UK tax strategy. The legislation came into force in September 2016 and applies to financial years beginning on or after September 15, 2016. Affected groups with a December year end will therefore need to publish their first UK tax strategy by the end of 2017.
The new legislation is expected to create additional compliance burdens for covered businesses and should (from a practical perspective) be taken into account by them as part of their annual compliance reviews given the requirement to publish an updated strategy each year.
All taxpayers affected by the new rules should be considering their impact and ensuring that they prepare a timely submission in accordance with the detailed requirements of the new legislation. As the UK tax authorities (HMRC) have indicated that they will not give clearances in relation to whether or not a draft statement complies with the new rules, it is important for covered businesses to take legal advice on the preparation of their statements in order to ensure that all requirements of the legislation are considered and a coherent and consistent position is articulated in what will be a public statement to the world at large.
