The author is Alex Hunter, Editor, TP News. He oversees and updates the publication and also regularly writes news stories about transfer pricing and international tax law. Alex is reachable on email (editor@transferpricingnews.com) and by phone (+447808558597).
Mel Stride, Financial Secretary to the UK Treasury, has said that the Government has brought in and protected more than GBP8bn in 2016-17 from UK’s largest companies.
Stride was responding to a question put by Tory MP Nigel Mills in the House of Commons on January 16, 2018. Mills had asked what progress the Government made on reducing the level of corporate tax evasion and the tax gap.
Stride stressed that the Government has an outstanding record on clamping down on tax avoidance and non-compliance. “We have brought in and protected GBP160bn since 2010, and no less than GBP8bn in 2016-17 alone, from the UK’s largest companies.”
“Currently at six percent, the tax gap is one of the lowest in the world, and lower than any year during the last Labour Government,” Stride added.
Stride said that the Government is at the forefront of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting project, and of the common reporting standards that are being rolled out at the moment.
“We have taken further measures in the Budget to consult on the taxation of digitally based companies, particularly in respect of withholding tax on royalties going to zero-tax or low-tax jurisdictions. That consultation will report back in February, and we will take an appropriate decision thereafter,” Stride said.