§ Mr. TimmsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the tax treatment of transactions in futures and options designed to produce a guaranteed return. [28677]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe Government have already announced their intention to act against leakages of tax from artificial avoidance devices. Last year's Finance Act included legislation designed to counter tax avoidance schemes which used options or futures to convert income into capital gains. But it did not cover every possible device.
The Inland Revenue have been instructed to prepare legislation for inclusion in the next Finance Bill which will counter, with effect from today, one class of avoidance devices which is not covered by the Finance Act 1997 and from which significant amounts of tax may be at risk. Details of the device concerned, and the proposed legislation, are included in an Inland Revenue Press Release which is published today.