Private Equity-Owned Firms Look to Avoid UK Tax Reporting Push

Private equity-owned companies are asking to be exempt from proposed UK tax reporting rules they say would unnecessarily apply to them when they are intended for smaller businesses with unpaid tax liabilities.

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in March proposed new reporting requirements for so-called close companies—typically small companies under the control of five or fewer participators, or persons with a share or interest in the capital or income of a company. The definition also includes companies where all the participators are directors.

The rules may inadvertently catch larger businesses and those owned by private equity and other funds, which ...