When does tax avoidance become aggressive?

13 january 2013

 

It is fine to take advantage of tax relief tools put there for the purpose, such as contributions to pension funds, saving in individual savings accounts or investing in venture capital trusts.

At the other extreme, aggressive tax avoidance attempts to use legislation in a way that was never intended by parliament and for which there is no commercial purpose.

Such arrangements are legal in that the use of them does not give rise to criminal sanctions, however the Chancellor has called them “morally repugnant”.