Accountants shouldn’t devise and promote tax planning structures or arrangements that are designed to achieve a different result than what is clearly intended by the legislators, according to a position paper released by Accountancy Europe.
Accountancy Europe’s position paper went further to say that accountants shouldn’t devise and promote tax planning structures that are wholly artificial and wholly contrived and which seek to exploit loopholes, mismatches between different legislation or different treatment of structures or items in different countries.
The position paper also stated that accountants should provide advice that is client specific based on the client’s commercial and economic realities rather than promoting pre-packaged tax avoidance schemes.
“Accountants must terminate any client relationship with clients who decide not to disclose the relevant facts (as defined at a national level) to the tax authority,” the position paper read.
Accountancy Europe’s position paper seek to clarify the organisation’s position on the role of professional accountants in advising tax payers and tax authorities, the principles for accountants to comply with when providing tax advice and the impact of technology on the future of tax.
The paper is accessible here

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