UK Revenue's Special Tax Agreement For The Rich May Come To An End

Amanda Banks, Tax-news.com, London

05 March 2001

The UK's Paymaster General, Dawn Primarolo, has revealed that the Inland Revenue is reconsidering the agreements it employed for the past 13 years with a number of wealthy tax payers that exempt them from filling in detailed tax returns and accounts on the proviso that they pay a certain amount of money in tax each year.

The special 'forward tax' arrangements have generally been used where the tax payer has extremely complicated tax affairs such as Harrod's boss Mohamed Al-Fayed, who took the Inland Revenue to court last year when it withdrew his forward tax agreement.

Ms Primarolo said the special tax agreement did not only apply to British subjects in the UK and none of the tax payers that have taken advantage of the special agreement have been exempted from the general obligation to complete a tax return. She said: 'None of the individuals concerned has been absolved from the general obligation to file a tax return. Whether an individual is a British subject, and the question of their nationality, are not features of the agreements which have been made. The policy in relation to these agreements is currently under review.'

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