Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will ensure that safeguards are in place so that tax rulings are properly scrutinised before coming into force and subject to monitoring thereafter.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) gives tax rulings where the law provides for it to do so. It also provides its opinion on the application of tax law to a specific transaction or event.

Rulings are generally specific to the individual circumstances or transactions and are not published, nor applied more widely for confidentiality reasons.

If the ruling is more general, this is often in response to a decision by a Court, so will be carefully considered before being published and subsequently monitored in line with HMRC’s usual policy.