The UK general anti abuse rule : lessons for Australia?

Abstract

Australia and the UK have general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) in their respective income tax legislation. The UK GAAR is relatively new, while the Australian GAAR, bar a number of amendments over the years, was introduced in 1981. This article comparatively analyses these two GAARs with a view to determining whether certain aspects of the UK GAAR provide lessons for certain perennially controversial aspects of the Australian GAAR. In this regard, this article particularly focuses on the way these two GAARs define an arrangement or a scheme, identify a tax benefit and target impermissible or abusive tax avoidance, before concluding with the lessons that can be learned from the UK GAAR.