Upfront tax avoidance demands top £250m

by Susie Hughes at 11:17 29/10/14 (News on Business)

HM Revenue and Customs has sent notices to tax avoidance scheme users to pay over £250 million of disputed tax under the controversial Accelerated Payments regime introduced in this year’s Finance Act.

The new scheme allows HMRC to demand upfront payment of any disputed tax associated with avoidance schemes. Prior to this HMRC had to win a tribunal case before they could demand disputed tax in these schemes. HMRC gives an avoidance scheme a scheme reference number (SRN) when a promoter notifies HMRC of the scheme under the rules for disclosing a tax avoidance scheme (DOTAS). Users will need to make an accelerated payment of tax to HMRC on some DOTAS schemes while the scheme is under dispute with HMRC. The tax avoidance schemes on which users may be charged an upfront payment are available via their reference numbers on the Government's website. (See: Controversial 'accelerated payments' hit list published - Shout99, July 2014) Demands The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, told MPs scrutinising the National Insurance Contributions Bill that over 600 Accelerated Payment notices had been sent since late August. It was claimed that despite recipients having 90 days to pay the tax demanded in the notices, avoidance scheme users have already begun to contact HMRC and to arrange to make payments, covering over £25 million of disputed tax. It seems that many more users are also choosing to contact HMRC about settling their tax affairs rather than wait to receive an Accelerated Payment notice. Advertisement Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said: “Accelerated Payments are changing the economics of avoidance by removing the cash-flow advantage that avoidance scheme users have had until now. It is only fair that those who use avoidance schemes should have to pay their tax upfront, like the vast majority of other taxpayers who don’t try to shirk their responsibilities." By January 2015, HMRC will be issuing 2,500 Accelerated Payment notices per month and it is on track to deliver notices to 43,000 tax avoidance scheme users, covering £7.1 billion of disputed tax, by the end of March 2016. Accelerated Payments were included in Finance Act 2014 and are being extended to National Insurance Contributions (NICS) in the NICs Bill currently being considered by Parliament. Tweet -- If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'. - Susie Hughes © Shout99 2014

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