§ Mr. MillerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the tax avoided by intellectual property contracts with offshore companies entered into by United Kingdom companies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DorrellThe United Kingdom has long-established transfer-pricing legislation to counteract international tax avoidance generally, which would include tax avoided in relation to such contracts. Where cases of international tax avoidance are identified, these are in the main handled by a small specialist section within the Inland Revenue, which in 1991–92 recovered an additional £123 million in tax from its investigations generally.