Immoral or unethical?.....

Tax avoidance – immoral/unethical?

The Lord President Clyde, ruling on the test case Ayrshire Pullman Motor Services v Inland Revenue Commissioners in 1929:

"No man in this country is under the smallest obligation, moral or other, so to arrange his legal relations to his business or to his property as to enable the Inland Revenue to put the largest possible shovel into his stores. The Inland Revenue is not slow to take every advantage which is open to it under the taxing statutes for the purpose of depleting the taxpayer's pocket. And the tax payer is, in a like manner, entitled to be astute to prevent, so far as he honestly can, the depletion of his means by the Revenue"

Basically this just somes up what every good accountant should already know - a taxpayer is perfectly entitled to organise their affairs so that they pay less tax.

As long as it's legal, HMRC can't do a thing about it.