The Mail published some interesting, but limited data on Sunday suggesting the lack of information on which companies registered on the FTSE 100 do and do not disclose the tax they pay in the UK, and how much of the tax those who do make declaration do pay here (about £1 in every £7, it transpires). Now I admit I spoke to the Mail about
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The Observer has one of those inevitable ‘what do you want from the budget?’ articles this morning in which the opinion of a Deloitte partner is telling. This is what he had to say: What do we want to see [in the budget]? The answer is more of the same. There has been some very good policy that has come
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Bill Dodwell has said NGOs working on tax campaigning should be regulated. He had included me in his targets. TJN has challenged Dodwell to propose the rules he'd like. I can't resist proposing Bill's Ten Commandment for us tax campaigners (plus a few bonuses because once started I had trouble stopping): 1. Thou shalt not
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The Tax Journal published an article yesterday entitled ‘Urban myths and the recent tax debate‘. I think I should put The Tax Journal in context: it is a sister publication to Taxation, whose editor recently awarded Margaret Hodge MP its aware for tax prat of the year. Where its bias might be is, I hope clear. And the article on ‘Urban myths’  is not just biased;
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I gave evidence before the House of Lords last week on the Finance Bill 2013 and the General Anti-Abuse Rule in particular. A transcript is here. Let’s leave that particular issue aside for a moment and note instead that Bill Dodwell of Deloitte and the Chartered Institute of Tax made the claim: There is one of the challenges: companies do not pay tax This is one
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I was on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 twice this morning. You can listen again here, and here.

I am on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme this morning at 8.30 (ish) to discuss the role of the Big 4 firms of accountants in tax havens and in international tax avoidance. Let me reiterate what tax avoidance is. It is getting round tax law to obtain an advantage parliament did not intend. So
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I have been sent the accounts of Deloitte Limited to 31 May 2012 this evening. As the accounts say: Seems fair enough. So what does the profit and loss account say? Hang on? £728 million of turnover and not a penny of profit or tax due? It would seem like it, but not quite: This
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According to the FT this morning: The UK arm of Deloitte also includes the accountant’s operations in Switzerland, where it enjoyed a 21 per cent sales increase to £211m on the back of market share gains. Market shares of  doing what, I wonder?