The Fair Tax Mark is an independent accreditation awarded by the Fair Tax Foundation after an assessment based on "Transparency ndtax rate, disclosure and avoidance"... As of January 2016, it is applicable to UK businesses. The process of assessing a company for the mark is intended to be initiated by the company that wants the mark. The mark is awarded by the company Fair Tax Foundation Limited, a not-for-profit

community benefit society An industrial and provident society (IPS) is a body corporate registered for carrying on any industries, businesses, or trades specified in or authorised by its rules. The members of a society benefit from the protection of limited liability ...

, incorporated 18 February 2014, company number IP032308. The

Tax Justice Network The Tax Justice Network (or TJN) is an advocacy group consisting of a coalition of researchers and activists with a shared concern about tax avoidance, tax competition, and tax havens. Empirical results The TJN has reported on the OECD Base er ...

assisted in raising initial funding, and it is supported by a number of other organisations including the

Public and Commercial Services Union The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is the sixth largest trade union in the United Kingdom. Most of its members work in UK government departments and other public bodies. History The union was founded in 1998 by the merger of t ...

. Before the present company was formed, an "earlier incarnation" undertook a pilot study in June 2013.

Tax policy

In their directors' report in their financial statements for the period ending 31 December 2014, Fair Tax Mark Limited committed themselves to paying taxes "in accordance with the spirit of all tax laws" and not to use options, allowances, or reliefs, or undertake specific transactions "that are contrary to the spirit of the law".

Awardees

The first organisations to be accredited, in February 2014, were

Midcounties Co-operative The Midcounties Co-operative, branded as Your Co-op, is a consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom with over 700,000 members. Registered in England under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, it is a member of Co-opera ...

The Phone Co-op The Phone Co-op was an independant consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom until 2018, when facing serious financial difficulties, it transfered itself into a sister society, where it remains today. It provides landline, mobile telephone an ...

and Unity Trust Bank. As of May 2021, 62 companies had been awarded the mark, including

SSE plc SSE plc (formerly Scottish and Southern Energy plc) is a multinational energy company headquartered in Perth, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. SSE operates in the United Kingdom and ...

, the first

FTSE100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

company to achieve the mark.

References

{{reflist, 30em Tax Standards of the United Kingdom Ethical principles