Dave Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax at HM Revenue & Customs, will end a 36-year career at the tax authorities when he retires in the summer of 2012. The usual retirement age for a permanent secretary is 60, however he has agreed to stay on while Lin Homer, HMRC’s new chief executive officer, settles into the organisation. Hartnett will be 61 in February.
Hartnett has come under sustained criticism from politicians, tax justice campaigners and the media for at least a year, particularly in relation to separate settlements of liabilities between HMRC and two multinational taxpayers, Vodafone and Goldman Sachs, that opponents think were too favourable to the companies. He has also been attacked for a deal with Switzerland relating to undeclared income held by UK taxpayers there and has also had to defend himself against accusations that his policy of engagement with taxpayers meant he has got too close to them and their advisers. A 2010 survey found he had accepted hospitality on 107 occasions from law firms, accounting firms and companies over a three-year period.
Even if some in Britain have been critical of his work, he is highly regarded internationally. He has taken a leading role in the OECD’s tax policy work, particularly through the Forum on Tax Administration (FTA). He led the FTA’s study on the role of tax intermediaries and is in charge of another study for the OECD looking into the practical issues of transfer pricing for tax administrations
“Dave is widely-recognised as a tax leader at home and abroad, and has secured billions in tax for the UK that would otherwise have been lost through avoidance, evasion and fraud,” Homer said today.
