Company directors facing scrutiny over their low corporate tax bill are not able to effectively blame their decisions on their duty to shareholders, a Farrer & Co legal opinion sent to FTSE 100 companies has said.
The opinion, sent yesterday (9 September) to the chief executives of the UK’s largest companies, was commissioned by the Tax Justice Network and concludes that ‘the idea of a strictly “fiduciary” duty to avoid tax is wholly misconceived’. The TJN, which circulated the opinion, was prompted by fears that UK business leaders are justifying their decision to find tax loopholes on the need to maximise profits for shareholders.
