GAAR Panel

HMRC has delayed the announcement of who will be taking their place on the new General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) advisory panel.

AccountancyLive understands that a formal announcement - on who the new chairperson for the advisory panel would be - due to be made earlier this month, has been deferred.

HMRC began its search for a chairperson for the advisory panel in November. It had hoped that the new postholder would be in place by 31 January 2013. The appointee was set to advise HMRC on appointing the other panel members.

Currently, an interim group of panel members led by Graham Aaronson QC- who addressed the House of Lords Sub-Committee on the 2013 Finance Bill yesterday - has been overseeing the development of the new guidance, following its publication for public consultation in December.

A source close to the proposed GAAR panel told AccountancyLive that its membership will be comprised of three representatives from business, two corporate solicitors, a brace of personal tax lawyers, a pair of accountants, followed by two individuals with ‘wider taxpayer interests’.

HMRC will not be represented on the advisory panel (including the interim group), but will support both with administrative and secretariat resources.

HMRC’s omission was welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) president Patrick Stevens, who said:

‘The majority of panel members need to be those involved, or recently involved, in day to day commercial and tax transactions with no HMRC representatives. We are delighted that the government agree.’

It now looks like any announcement will be further delayed, much like the GAAR itself which will now come into force from royal assent to the Finance Bill 2013 in July, instead of from 1 April 2013, as originally planned.

A number of new amendments were made to the draft legislation to reflect comments received. Key among the changes is the “double reasonableness test”, the wording of which has been clarified to ensure that the GAAR operates as intended.

A full consultation response document was published with the draft legislation and draft guidance in December.

HMRC were unable to confirm when an announcement would be made at the time of publication.