§ Mr. TimmsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to introduce legislation to counter tax avoidance schemes involving the sales of companies to avoid payment of corporation tax. [30277]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe Government announced at the time of the last Budget, in July, that legislation would be introduced in the next Finance Bill to counter these schemes, and the Inland Revenue have today published the legislation in draft for consultation.
The proposed legislation will strengthen measures introduced in 1994 to counter schemes which exploit the rules on company purchase and abandonment. The new legislation is designed to stop alternative schemes which have been developed since 1994. The Government are determined to curb tax avoidance, and will act to counter any further attempts to get round the rules on company purchase and abandonment, giving consideration to backdating to the commencement date for the current provisions any future measures which may be necessary to counter variants of these schemes.