Barclays hits out at 'unwarranted' retrospective tax action

Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, has asked George Osborne to respond to suggestions from Barclays that retrospective tax action taken against the bank earlier this year was "unwarranted".

In February, the government introduced new legislation to prevent the use of two aggressive tax avoidance schemes used by Barclays, after being informed by HMRC. It also ordered the bank to pay £500m in tax it had tried to avoid. Tyrie asked Barclays for its perspective on the action following a meeting with chief executive Bob Diamond on 17 April. In a letter to Tyrie, Diamond explained how it had come about after the bank had disclosed to HMRC that it had repurchased some of its debt in a "tax efficient manner", expressing his surprise it had been singled out by the government fo...