| Summary: | There is now almost universal acceptance that tax law is overly complex and indeterminate. A considerable body of literature has built up in consequence analysing alternative structures for the promulgation of law. Much less attention on the other hand has been directed towards HMRC’s role in the current arrangement. If the legislation and case law offer few immediate answers to the taxpayer, then HMRC’s role as administrator of the system becomes more apparent. General soft law elaborating upon how HMRC will apply the law is thus rendered an indispensable element. In order for it to perform optimally its important role in supplementing the law, this soft law must be of sufficient quality, accessibility and reliability, in addition to being subjected to robust scrutiny. General HMRC soft law, however, has unfortunately been permitted to develop unchecked and falls short of satisfying these benchmarks. The thesis seeks to set out a package of proposals which should be adopted in order to alleviate these issues.
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