The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has welcomed government's announcement that HMRC will not have a place on the proposed general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) advisory panel, set to be introduced next year. It also embraced news that the panel will have a permanent independent chair.

Both the CIOT and the Association of Taxation Technicians had called for both moves in their joint response to the government's consultation on draft GAAR legislation in September.

CIOT President Patrick Stevens said: 'The Advisory Panel on the General Anti Abuse Rule should be wholly independent, with no representatives of HMRC. This is all about making the GAAR work and reducing uncertainty for taxpayers, especially businesses. The panel is a key feature of the operation of the GAAR.

'The government has identified the panel's purpose as being to help taxpayers and HMRC identify the borderline between acceptable planning on the one hand and egregious avoidance, where the GAAR applies, on the other hand. To achieve this we think it is necessary for the panel to be genuinely independent.

'The majority of panel members need to be those involved, or recently involved, in day to day commercial and tax transactions with no HMRC representatives. We are delighted that the government agree.'

The institute, which has 16,500 members, is also pressing for all the advisory panel decisions to be published, a scenario which has not been currently addressed.

Stevens added: 'There is a need for confidentiality in relation to individual taxpayers but decisions can be safely anonymised. Given the lack of any clearance system, the publication of advisory panel decisions, including dissenting opinions, is particularly necessary to assist taxpayers and their advisers. It is a key part of the process of making the GAAR work and, along with the panel's independence, can help avoid damaging uncertainty.'

Comments on the Exposure Drafts are requested by April 30, 2013.