Avoiding the unwelcome attentions of SOCA
Originally sent: July 19, 2004I am sure most of us agree that any action to stop the activities of terrorists and crime lords is a good move, and probably applaud the government initiative to set up an FBI-style agency to do this ? ?SOCA? (Serious Organised Crime Agency).
How many of you, however, have read the White Paper ?One Step Ahead: a 21st Century Strategy to Defeat Organised Crime? and noticed that tax evasion is to be one of the serious crimes high on SOCA?s agenda? So what? We do not get involved in tax evasion and do not encourage our clients to get involved either, so why should we be concerned?
Well, the boundary between tax evasion, which is illegal, and tax avoidance, which is legal, is moving and becoming more indistinct every year. If you read some recent discussions in the House of Lords you will recognise that even our legislators often have great difficulty distinguishing between the two. And the latest Budget indicates very clearly the hostility this government feels for tax avoidance schemes.
So, those financial advisers who focus particularly on tax avoidance rather than simply tax mitigation could soon find themselves the focus of unwelcome attention by the new SOCA. And what powers will this agency have? The power to demand any and all information on any of the adviser?s clients, even if they have no evidence that the adviser is guilty of conspiring with clients to commit offences such as tax evasion.
The message, from the Budget as well as from the White Paper on SOCA, is that we should now focus much more on tax mitigation than on tax avoidance. If you are a little rusty on the very wide range of tax mitigation schemes and products available now is the time to brush up your skills. And if you do wish to include in your armoury at least a few schemes more appropriately designated ?tax avoidance? than ?tax mitigation?, you need to keep up to date with the ever moving boundaries of tax avoidance and tax evasion.
Technical knowledge is unlikely to win you any clients unless you also have the right sales skills. But the right technical knowledge could certainly help you and your clients avoid the unwelcome attentions of Inland Revenue and, in due course, the UK?s new ?FBI?.
Adviser Breakthrough Training Solutions Ltd. takes no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action, or in consequence of any other person acting or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this article.
Adviser Breakthrough Free IFA News Service
About
Adviser Breakthrough Training Solutions provides the IFA community with a FREE and easy way to keep ahead of the game - so why not sign up today ?
Subscription to this newsletter is FREE. To sign up simply enter your name and email address in the form below.
