Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 section 63

Tax avoidance arrangements

Section 63 defines what constitutes a "tax avoidance arrangement" and what counts as an "arrangement" for the purposes of the Act.

• An arrangement is a tax avoidance arrangement if a reasonable person, looking at all the circumstances, would conclude that obtaining a tax advantage is the main purpose or one of the main purposes of the arrangement.
• The definition of "arrangement" is deliberately broad and includes transactions, schemes, actions, operations, agreements, grants, understandings, promises, undertakings, or events.
• An arrangement does not need to be legally enforceable to fall within the definition — informal or non-binding understandings are also caught.
• An arrangement may consist of a single step or multiple stages or parts, and a series of arrangements taken together can also be treated as a tax avoidance arrangement.