With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Clause stand part.
Government amendments 115 to 174, 178, 175 to 177 and 179.
Clause 145 stand part.
Government amendments 82 to 86.
Amendment 4, in clause 146, page 209, line 25, leave out from “penalty” to end and insert
“shall be 100% unless the GAAR Advisory Panel or an officer duly delegated by that panel considers that there are exceptional reasons for lessening that percentage.”
Government amendments 87 to 99.
Clauses 146 and 147 stand part.
Government amendments 100 to 110.
Government amendments 112, 111 and 113.
Schedule 18 stand part.
Government amendments 69 to 81.
Clauses 148 and 149 stand part.
Amendment 1, in schedule 19, page 516, line 21, at end insert—
‘(2A) A group tax strategy of a qualifying group which is a MNE group must also include a country-by-country report.
(2B) In paragraph (2A) “country-by-country report” has the meaning given by the Taxes (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) (Country by Country Reporting) Regulations 2016.”
Amendment 5, page 516, leave out line 39 and insert—
‘(2) The director or directors of the head of the group are personally jointly and severally liable to a penalty of £25,000 if:”.
Amendment 6, page 517, line 1, leave out
“head of the group is”
and insert
“director or directors, held jointly and severally liable, of the head of the group are”.
Amendment 7, page 517, line 5, leave out
“head of the group is”
and insert
“director or directors, held jointly and severally liable, of the head of the group are”.
Amendment 8, page 517, leave out lines 11 to 15 and insert—
‘(5) At the end of that period, the director or directors of the head of the group—
(a) are personally jointly and severally liable to a further penalty of £25,000, and
(b) where the failure mentioned in sub-paragraph (4)(b) continues, are liable to a further penalty of £25,000 at the end of each subsequent month in which no such group tax strategy is published.”
Amendment 9, page 517, line 15, at end insert—
‘(6) Any director held personally liable to pay a penalty under this Part cannot be reimbursed by the head of the group or any entity within or associated with that group.
(7) If the head of the group or any entity as described in subsection (6) is found to have either fully or partially reimbursed a director or directors for the penalty for which they were personally liable, the head of the group or the entity will in turn be liable for a penalty of £100,000.”
Amendment 10, page 518, leave out line 24 and insert—
‘(2) The director or directors of the head of the group are personally jointly and severally liable to a penalty of £25,000 if:”.
Amendment 11, page 518, line 29, leave out
“head of the group is”
and insert
“director or directors, held jointly and severally liable, of the head of the group are”.
Amendment 12, page 518, line 33, leave out
“head of the group is”
and insert
“director or directors, held jointly and severally liable, of the head of the group are”.
Amendment 13, page 518, leave out lines 39 to 43 and insert—
‘(5) At the end of that period, the director or directors of the head of the group—
(a) are personally jointly and severally liable to a further penalty of £25,000, and
(b) where the failure mentioned in sub-paragraph (4)(b) continues, are liable to a further penalty of £25,000 at the end of each subsequent month in which no such group tax strategy is published.”
Amendment 14, page 518, line 43, at end insert—
‘(6) Any director held personally liable to pay a penalty under this Part cannot be reimbursed by the head of the group or any entity within or associated with that group.
(7) If the head of the group or any entity as described in subsection (6) is found to have either fully or partially reimbursed a director or directors for the penalty for which they were personally liable, the head of the group or the entity will in turn be liable for a penalty of £100,000.”
Amendment 15, page 520, leave out line 12 and insert—
‘(2) The director or directors of the company are personally jointly and severally liable to a penalty of £25,000 if:”.
Amendment 16, page 520, line 17, leave out
“head of the group is”
and insert
“director or directors, held jointly and severally liable, of the head of the group are”.
Amendment 17, page 520, leave out lines 27 to 31 and insert—
‘(5) At the end of that period, the director or directors of the head of the group—
(a) are personally jointly and severally liable to a further penalty of £25,000, and
(b) where the failure mentioned in sub-paragraph (4)(b) continues, are liable to a further penalty of £25,000 at the end of each subsequent month in which no such group tax strategy is published.”
Amendment 18, page 520, line 31, at end insert—
‘(6) Any director held personally liable to pay a penalty under this Part cannot be reimbursed by the head of the group or any entity within or associated with that group.
(7) If the head of the group or any entity as described in subsection (6) is found to have either fully or partially reimbursed a director or directors for the penalty for which they were personally liable, the head of the group or the entity will in turn be liable for a penalty of £100,000.”
Schedule 19 and clause 150 stand part.
Amendment 19, in schedule 20, page 534, line 23, at end insert
“, or P has introduced Q to a person R with whom P has a business relationship, where P knows or should know that R is likely to facilitate Q to carry out offshore tax evasion or non-compliance.”
Amendment 20, page 535, line 5, at end insert
“; and P will be deemed to have known if P wilfully or recklessly failed to make such enquiries that a reasonable and honest person would have made”.
Schedule 20, clause 151, schedule 21, clauses 152 and 153, schedule 22 and clause 154 stand part.
New clause 4—Report on the workings of the General Anti-Abuse Rule—
‘(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall, within one year of the passing of this Act, publish a report on the workings of the General Anti-Abuse Rule.
(2) The report must include but need not be limited to—
(a) the number of meetings held by the General Anti-Abuse Rule Advisory Panel;
(b) the date by which the procedures of the Advisory Panel were published;
(c) the number of cases referred to the Advisory Panel and by whom;
(d) the number of cases on which a decision has been made by the Advisory Panel;
(e) the number of outstanding cases on which a decision has not been made by the Advisory Panel, and the dates on which those cases were first referred to the Advisory Panel.”
New clause 5—Report on the number of deliberate tax defaulters—
The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall, within one year of the passing of this Act, publish a report containing the number of deliberate tax defaulters whose details have been published, and an estimate of the number of taxpayers who have been deterred from deliberately defaulting as a result of the provisions contained in section 94 of FA 2009 as amended by this Act.”
New clause 6—Report on the asset-based penalty for offshore inaccuracies and failures—
‘(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall, within one year of the passing of this Act, publish a report on the impact of the asset-based penalty for offshore inaccuracies and failures.
(2) The report must include but need not be limited to—
(a) how much tax revenue has been recouped due to this measure;
(b) the amount of monies paid in asset-based penalties; and
(c) the number of persons upon whom asset-based penalties have been levied.”
New clause 7—Report on the impact of the criminal offences relating to offshore income, assets and activities—
‘(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall, within one year of the passing of this Act, publish a report on the impact of the criminal offences relating to offshore income, assets and activities.
(2) The report must include but need not be limited to—
(a) the number of persons who have been charged with offences under each of sections 106B, 106C and 106D of TMA 1970;
(b) the number of persons who have been convicted of any such offence;
(c) the average fine imposed; and
(d) the number of people upon whom a custodial sentence has been imposed for any such offence.”
New clause 8—Whistleblowing in relation to tax evasion—
The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall conduct a review of arrangements to facilitate whistleblowing in the banking and financial services sector in relation to the disclosure of suspected tax evasion, and report to Parliament within six months of the passing of this Act.”
New clause 9—Estimated impact of extending the scope of the Register of People with Significant Control Regulations 2016—
The Chancellor of the Exchequer must, within 12 months of this Act coming into force, publish an estimate of the impact on levels of tax avoidance and tax evasion of extending the requirement placed on UK-incorporated companies by the Register of People with Significant Control Regulations 2016 to publish a register of people with significant control to companies incorporated in the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories which have significant levels of trading activity within the UK.”
This new clause would require the Chancellor to publish an estimate of the impact on levels of tax avoidance and tax evasion of extending the current requirement on UK-based companies to publish information about people who have significant control over them to companies incorporated in the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories which have significant levels of trading activity within the UK.