Creating reliefs for housing co-operatives

A segment of housing co-operatives are wrongly being made liable to pay punitive taxes intended to combat the tax avoidance/obfuscation practice known as ‘enveloping’.

The misapplication of these punitive taxes is having a disproportionate adverse impact by limiting people’s housing options in ways we believe run counter to government housing policy, especially when compared to the negligible revenue earned by the Exchequer.

In this representation to government we propose that existing reliefs are extended to protect the affected housing co-operatives in a way that ensures no new opportunities for tax avoidance are inadvertently created.