The proposed statutory residence test: a missed opportunity?

2010/11 may well turn out to be a watershed year for the law of residence of individuals.

Pressure for reform has been building following a decade of concerted effort by HMRC in their campaign to close the tax gap by pursuing individuals claiming not to be UK resident.

If the proposals outlined in the HM Treasury and HMRC consultation document are enacted it will be the first time since the first introduction of income tax that a thorough review of the most important connecting factor in the tax system determining whether an individual’s worldwide income and gains are to be taxed in the UK has been comprehensively addressed.

It may however be a missed opportunity.

The consultation fails to ask the basic question whether the proposed rules...