Indirect Tax Meeting March 2015 - Tax & Ethics

On Monday 16th March 2015, Jolyon Maugham QC was part of a panel discussion on Tax & Ethics as part of the Indirect Tax Meetings organised by the Association of Tax Technicians and Chartered Institute of Taxation. The panel, chaired by Michael Ashdown of BDO, also included Stephen Herring of the Institute of Directors and Keith Gordon of Temple Tax Chamber.

They discussed the following questions:

  1. Is it possible to draw a line between ethical and unethical tax behaviour? 
  2. Is the IRC v Duke of Westminster principle unethical? 
  3. Is it ethical to do tax planning that HMRC approves of but not otherwise? 
  4. If it is only acceptable to do tax planning that HMRC approves of, does this raise rule of law concerns? 
  5. Does the "Abuse of Rights" approach in EU law mean that the ethical question is framed differently -perhaps more explicitly - for VAT than it is for direct taxes?

The meeting, held at BDO’s Baker Street office, offered guests the opportunity to join the discussion followed by informal drinks with colleagues and panel members. 

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