There have been press reports that at a seminar on globalisation on Friday Gordon Brown offered tax concessions to big business. He's offered to improve the relationship it has with the UK's HM Revenue & Customs. Apparently the major proposal is to give advance clearances on proposed transactions and to have a less aggressive approach to investigations when a compliant approach has been adopted by the business in question.

Some I know have expressed concern about this. I do not think we need worry, and some Revenue officials I have spoken to have quietly smiled to themselves when we have discussed this over the last few days. I'd suggest two reasons for my relaxed attitude. The first is that the EU Code of Conduct does not allow advance rulings that are prejudicial to the future management of taxation in the UK. The reason is obvious. These rulings create non-standard taxation provisions and these are both unacceptable under the Code and normally block the use of double tax treaties, so businesses do not want them. In that case I think no arrangement of that sort is likely, especially as the Revenue themselves also proved them ultra vires (beyond their power to grant) in the Mohammed al Fayed case a few years ago.

The second reason for a lack of concern is that business continues to be aggressive. As one tax director said in my hearing recently 'We will always plan ways out of taxes'.

So, I put Gordon Brown's comments down to useful spin, but am really unconcerned about them unless, and it's a big unless, they are the precursor for something much more important, and that is a general anti-avoidance principle. I think pre-transaction rulings as to whether a proposed arrangement is acceptable or not are an essential part of such a system of tax management, and make complete sense for anyone interested in tax justice. I won't hold by breath, but if these arrangements are being used to trial such rulings before a move to a general anti-avoidance principle then I actually welcome what has happened.