Companies reducing their tax bills through efficient use of tax planning schemes has risen by a third, according to figures from Pinsent Masons.

For the year 2011/12, corporation tax avoidance schemes declared to HMRC by UK businesses stood at 1,862, 36% higher than the 1,371 declared schemes in the previous financial year and five times higher than that in 2007/08.

Previous research by the legal firm saw the number of tax avoidance schemes blocked by legislation had fallen to nine in 2010-11, from 18 in 2009-10 and 173 in 2006-7.

Ray McCann, director at Pinsent Masons, said: 'The directors of UK corporates have a fiduciary obligation to their shareholders to ensure that they are not paying more tax than is legally due, and in difficult trading conditions chief executives and financial teams are under lot of pressure from shareholders to boost post-tax profits. Reducing the effective tax rate is often seen as part of this.

'Many of the schemes reported to HMRC are likely to be legitimate - and perfectly legal - tax planning arrangements. There has been a decline in abusive avoidance schemes as corporates know HMRC is ready and waiting to challenge them, with the full support of the courts.'