Press release: New ATT President speaks out in defence of tax planning

Michael Steed, a tax consultant, trainer and writer, will make the remarks in his inaugural speech as he takes office as President at this afternoon’s annual general meeting of the ATT.

In his speech to the ATT AGM Michael Steed will say:

“We are daily bombarded by media comment on ‘tax dodging’ by either individuals or multinationals; our job as an educational charity, together with the CIOT, has never been in sharper focus or more needed.

“’My theme is ‘Occupying the responsible centre ground of tax planning’. I think this is the right time to take up such a theme. It reflects what our members actually do. In a very real sense, it reflects that the ATT has come of age.

"We need to engage, inform and educate the public about what we do and who we are as the ATT and not to be afraid to say that we are not mere tax collectors in our compliance role, but de facto tax advisers to a wide range of individuals and businesses.

“Tax is complicated. It is full of traps for the unwary – things you might do today that could inadvertently give you an unnecessary tax bill in a few years’ time; and also opportunities – reliefs and incentives – wholly intended by government but often under-publicised or fiendishly hard to fit into – or both!

“That’s why government incentives are often woefully undersubscribed.

“And that’s why people hire ATT members and other tax professionals to help them plan their tax affairs.

“I am clear that we would never condone evasion and everything that we do as ATT members would be within the scope of the PCRT, published in May 2015.

“But we do need to ensure that taxpayers are aware of the full tax consequences of their actions. Because the business or individual taxpayer that doesn’t plan ahead opens themselves up to tax consequences that are not just unexpected, but unnecessary, unintended and frequently downright unfair.

“I personally take inspiration and lead from Graham Aaronson QC, who said in his seminal GAAR report:

“ ‘I have concluded that introducing a broad spectrum general anti-avoidance rule would not be beneficial for the UK tax system. This would carry a real risk of undermining the ability of business and individuals to carry out sensible and responsible tax planning;

“Such tax planning is an entirely appropriate response to the complexities of a tax system such as the UK’s’ ”.

“Of course, this is not just an ATT issue; all the professional bodies will be looking at this. With my fellow officers and our brethren at the CIOT, we will be engaging HMT and HMRC in a polite but robust way to attempt to determine what they and we mean by such phrases as ‘avoidance’ and ‘tax planning’ over the coming months.”

Notes for editors

1. Michael Steed is a Cambridge graduate who spent 15 years in international oil and gas exploration before training in tax with Coopers & Lybrand.

Mr Steed is a Consultant at Kaplan which he joined nine years ago, specialising in tax and commercial awareness and now works for Learning and Professional Development. Michael joined the ATT Council in 2009 and sits on its Technical Steering Group. As well as being a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, he is also a member of the AAT and was awarded the Past President’s Prize in 2004 for CPD services to the AAT. He is also a CCH tax editor.

Technical Team