A new list of deliberate tax defaulters has been published by HMRC on 12 November 2013. It includes a number of food retailers, hairdresser, wholesalers, a yacht brokerage, construction industry firms, haulage operator and a property rental owner.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publishes details of deliberate tax defaulters – people who have received penalties either for:
- deliberate errors in their tax returns or
- deliberately failing to comply with their tax obligations
The law that allows this is Section 94 Finance Act 2009.
HMRC may publish information about a deliberate tax defaulter where:
- HMRC have carried out an investigation and the person has been charged one or more penalties for deliberate defaults
- those penalties involve tax of more than £25,000
However, their information will not be published if the person earns the maximum reduction of the penalties by fully disclosing details of the defaults.
HMRC will publish sufficient information to identify the deliberate tax defaulter, the penalties imposed for their deliberate defaults and the amount of tax on which those penalties are based.
The online rogue’s gallery is intended to encourage defaulting tax payers to pay up. Their details cannot be published for longer than 12 months.