Priyanka Abdallah, the managing director of the British Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), said that the company is currently reviewing its processes for tax avoidance.
She also highlighted that while HMRC is investigating, “there is no suggestion that our business is at risk”.
The UK government says there is “no clear evidence” of tax avoidance by multinational corporations. Under the European Union Common Reporting Standard (CRS), firms are now supposed to make detailed financial data, such as annual profits and financial disclosures, available to tax authorities. But the UK has yet to apply, leaving the private sector to assess whether its accounts are in line with what the law requires.
“As a result, there is a lot of uncertainty around exactly what the data looks like,” said Mr Glyn Davies, managing director of a consultancy, E-Tax International. “What does it look like? Does it reflect the real state [of affairs]?”
He said one reason it remains unclear is that HMRC has been unable to make the data available in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. HMRC said the information it has received so far has been unhelpful, and that the “data is only suitable for HMRC to use as part of public service requests”.
In a statement, the UK tax authority admitted that “transactions through entities in which HMRC or another UK tax authority holds a substantial interest, where the UK tax authority has the ability to demand or receive information, may amount to financial transactions with HMRC or another UK tax authority.”
“Under the existing regulations, HMRC or other UK tax authorities may have exclusive control over information obtained and processed during such transactions.”
Companies that have been questioned by HMRC under the CRS will have to provide the details so it can assess and act on specific business matters. This could include helping the UK Revenue & Customs (HMRC), in its role as tax authorities, to locate companies of interest.
While some international corporations are subject to CRS for tax avoidance, others such as Starbucks and Amazon are not, and therefore are not obliged to comply. However in some cases they have agreed to hand over the information to the Office of Tax Simplification for use in a “national disclosure scheme” to inform tax authorities about business practices or tax structures.
The US Treasury has been considering a plan in which firms would voluntarily provide information on their tax strategies to the public