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Tax evaders are being named by HMRC for the first time online. The Revenue has published a first batch of information about “deliberate defaulters” on its website, as officials make use of powers granted by Finance Act 2009, s 94 to warn taxpayers against neglecting their obligations.
Tax evaders are being named by HMRC for the first time online. The Revenue has published a first batch of information about “deliberate defaulters” on its website, as officials make use of powers granted by Finance Act 2009, s 94 to warn taxpayers against neglecting their obligations.
The move is also intended to encourage non-compliant individuals and businesses to be cooperative at the beginning of an investigation: a full disclose will ensure personal details will not be made public.
The taxman describes a deliberate defaulter as a taxpayer who incurs a penalty for an inaccuracy in a return or document for a tax period beginning on or after 1 April 2010, a failure to comply with obligations such as the that to notify HMRC of a liability to tax, or a VAT or excise wrongdoing that occurred on or after 1 April 2010.
It must be established that at least £25,000 of additional tax would have been lost without the Revenue’s intervention, and that the taxpayer failed to make a full disclosure at the outset of an enquiry.
Defaulters’ names and addresses will be published within 12 months of a penalty becoming final, but only after all appeal routes have been exhausted. The information will remain for 12 months on a list that the Revenue plans to update each quarter.
