Schedule 15
Finance Bill
12:30 pm
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
That is in relation to statement of practice, A32, rather than the availability of the election, which I was touching on. I am grateful for the Minister’s clarification that the election is still available. That is important.
We have a clear position on the statement of practice, A32, which the Minister just raised. However, although she was saying that A32 explained case law, surely that case law has been overridden by schedule 15. Although the Government were confident that the case was still the right one, the problem is that it was subject to greater challenge. Does that not have precedent over previous cases that have explored the measure? I think that in the past there was even a case over the cost of a bottle of wine.
I do not wish to detain the Committee for too much longer, but we need a clearer understanding of the status of the previous guidance and whether the schedule now applies to all cases where assets are appropriated from trading stock for personal consumption or are moved from fixed to trading assets. Another of the representative bodies has raised that point and it is important. It leads to an enshrining of the difference between profits as defined by UK GAAP—generally accepted accounting practice—and profits as defined by tax law. I suspect that will continue to be an issue as accounting practice develops to reflect changing circumstances. We are in danger of making a system more complex by maintaining the distinction between accounting profits and tax profits.
With the reassurances that the Minister has given on the section 161(3) election, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.