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The Professional Contractors Group (PCG) was 'dismayed' that the Government announced it intended to change the law relating to married couples in business together - 24 hours after it had been unanimously defeated in final court case on the issue. (See: Arctic: Government intends to change the law - Shout99)
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“We are also dismayed that new legislation is on the cards, given that HM Revenue and Customs consistently refused to acknowledge that the Arctic Systems case was a test case – if it did not test any significant new point of law, why does the law suddenly need changing? And if the law needs changing, why did the Government not just do that to begin with, instead of chasing Geoff and Diana Jones to the House of Lords?
"This development clearly shows that the Government should have been honest and legislated in the first place, so that we could have had a proper debate about how small businesses should be taxed.”
Complicated
PCG also expressed its concern that any new tax measure will prove complicated: it is not clear how the Government will be able to isolate the companies it wishes to target from others which it does not wish to tax more heavily. Nor is it clear how it is deciding which companies to hit with a new tax, and which to leave alone – it has said only that 'commercial arrangements' will be unaffected.
Mr Ramsden concluded: “It is the Government’s prerogative to introduce new legislation, but that legislation must be clear, workable and fair. The Prime Minister and Chancellor frequently say they wish to encourage small businesses in Britain, but this legislation risks having the opposite effect.”
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The Editor
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