Developing an ethical tax policy

In the second episode of our series focussing on Good Tax Governance, Hannah Manning from our tax team discusses the new corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent fraud (FTP).Over the last few years, businesses have become well acquainted with the strict liability offences around bribery and failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. HMRC's introduction of this new criminal offence in tackling financial crime has some interesting new features that make it easier for the actions of individuals within a company to be attributed to the company itself.Hannah discusses the new FTP offence, its relevance in a tax context, and how it interacts with the existing Corporate Criminal Offence of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion (CCO). Most importantly, Hannah will explore the steps that should be taken when dealing with both CCO and FTP. 

In the first of our series focussing on Good Tax Governance,Kulsoom Hadi from our Incentives and Remuneration team discusses the use ofumbrella companies. While umbrella companies can provide administrativebenefits for businesses when managing a flexible workforce, the UK taxauthorities are live to the risk of avoidance and expect end users to haveappropriate oversight of how the umbrella companies in their supply chainmanage their tax compliance. Kulsoom discusses the current compliance landscapeand the practical impact for businesses engaging staff through umbrellacompanies.

Our most recent episode of our Talking. Sustainability series.

In Part 2 of our discussion with Seb Akbik from PRI on Tax, ESG and Sustainability we explore some of the theoretical tensions and practical difficulties which can arise in establishing "good tax governance"; the differing approaches which organisations have adopted; and some examples of steps which businesses could take to develop good tax governance.

We recently sat down with Sebastien Akbik from UNPRI to discuss how tax fits in to ESG and sustainability, and what good tax governance actually means.

In this podcast, Associates Aimee Hutchinson and Callum Burgess from the Travers Smith Tax team return to the topic of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) and take a look at the second pillar of the OECD's corporate tax reform plan. Aimee and Callum discuss the plan, which aims to incorporate a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15%, in the context of the current global drive for sustainability (including sustainable taxation) and explore how Pillar 2 could be a force for change in that context.

In the latest episode of our Talking. Sustainability. podcast series, Incentives & Remuneration Knowledge Counsel Kulsoom Hadi discusses the idea of connecting ESG targets to employee incentives.Read more about Tax and ESG.

In our latest Talking. Sustainability. podcast, Tax Senior Associate Laura Jackson and Associate Callum Burgess discuss the importance of updating business risk assessments and procedures in relation to the corporate criminal offence of the failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. Laura and Callum assess how recent developments, such as Brexit and Covid-19, have altered the risk profile of some businesses and how businesses can ensure that their reasonable prevention procedures are as robust as possible in the event of an enquiry from HMRC. 

In the latest episode of our Talking.Sustainability. podcast series, Tax Partner Madeline Gowlett and Associate Rob Smith discuss the concept of "ethical taxation" and the key issues for businesses to consider.

In the second episode of our Talking. Sustainability. podcasts on "substance", Tax Associate Tom Margesson and Tax Knowledge Counsel Laura Hodgson discuss a recent policy proposal: the EU's draft Directive targeting the misuse of 'shell entities' (also referred to as 'ATAD III').In this episode, Tom and Laura explore which entities are within the scope of the rules; how EU entities can demonstrate a minimum level of substance; and what businesses can do now to prepare for the rules.