The loan charge that comes into force from 5 April is, even by the standards of recent years, a controversial move by the government. Ministers and HMRC deny that the measure is retrospective but there is no denying that it has a retroactive effect.

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has a longstanding view that tax law should not be made on a retrospective basis. We are equally clear that tax law that is enacted retroactively raises similar concerns as retrospective measures so far as taxpayer certainty and fairness is concerned.