Senior Accountants Face Business Tax Liability

Tue, 28 Apr 2009

Senior accountants could be made personally responsible for their firm's tax arrangements under proposals included in the Chancellor’s Budget report.

The document included plans for senior accounting officers’ at large firms to "take reasonable steps to establish and monitor accounting systems so that they are adequate for tax reporting purposes".

Under these proposals, senior accountants would have to certify that accounting systems are suitable for the task of tax reporting and communicate any problems to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Angus Johnson, global tax function effectiveness business leader at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), said: "The new provision significantly increases HMRC's armoury in this area and its personal impact will undoubtedly have a mind-concentrating effect on the chief financial officers and others in large companies."

"Those who think they may be affected by the changes should start preparing now, rather than waiting for the law to come into force," he added.

Prior to the Budget announcement, PwC had called on the government to ensure proposals included in the Chancellor’s speech helped boost the recession-hit economy.
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