UK Tax Policy

UK TAX POLICY – Year to 31 August 2022

This UK Tax Policy document for the Cohens Chemist Group contains the required content for a Tax Strategy set out in Schedule 19 FA 2016 and relevant HMRC guidance.

The Group’s business activities generate a substantial amount and variety of taxes, including Corporation Tax, Value Added Tax, Employment Tax and Stamp Duties. Such taxes form a significant part of the Group’s economic contribution to the UK. This policy applies to all the UK entities within the group.

Our tax policy comprises of five key components:

1. 1. Commitment to tax compliance:

Our overall objective is to achieve certainty in our tax affairs. The Group is committed to compliance with tax law and practice in the UK. This means paying the right amount of tax at the right time. It involves disclosing all relevant facts and circumstances to the tax authorities, claiming reliefs, exemptions and incentives where applicable and in the spirit of tax legislation.

1. 1. Tax Planning:

Tax planning is limited to ensuring that commercial transactions of the Group are undertaken in a tax efficient manner using available legislation, tax reliefs, allowances and incentives in the manner and circumstances intended by HMRC and legislation.

The Group does not engage in tax structured or motivated transactions, or artificially structured transactions, to get a tax result that would be contrary to the intentions of Parliament or otherwise unacceptable.

Where there is uncertainty on how to interpret tax law on any business transaction, the Group proactively engages with advisors and where applicable with tax authorities to seek certainty.

1. 1. Tax Risk Management

Given the scale of our business and volume of tax obligations, risks will inevitably arise from time to time in relation to the interpretation of complex tax law and nature of our compliance arrangements. We actively seek to identify, evaluate, monitor and manage these risks to ensure they remain in line with our objectives.

The overall aim is to file returns and pay the correct amount of tax in an accurate and timely manner and avoid unprovided tax liabilities such as interest and penalties.

1. 1. Constructive approach to engaging with HMRC
      The Group is committed to the principles of openness and transparency in its approach to dealing with HMRC and in particular the group commits to:
      • Be open and transparent with HMRC about decision making, governance and tax planning
      • Ensure that all communications with HMRC are conducted in an open, collaborative and professional manner.
      • Pay taxes and file returns by the due dates without incurring interest or penalties.
      • Make appropriate, accurate and timely disclosures in correspondence and tax returns, and respond to queries and information requests in a timely manner.
      • Seek statutory advance tax clearances for relevant transactions or seek non – statutory clearances where possible to remove uncertainty.
      • Seek to resolve issues with HMRC in a timely manner, and if disagreements arise, work with HMRC to resolve issues by agreement.
      • Structure the transactions to give a tax result which is consistent with the intentions of Parliament.
   2. Board Ownership and oversight

This tax policy is approved and owned by the group’s board of directors and adhered to by the Cohens Chemist group Senior Accounting officer.