HMRC has published a new consultation – “Strengthening Sanctions for Tax Avoidance” – with proposals for how to tackle serial tax avoiders and the schemes they seek to benefit from.
Running until 12th March, the consultation makes suggestions including additional financial penalties (such as a surcharge) for repeated use of schemes that fail, and a requirement for more in-depth reporting to be carried out on users of multiple schemes that fail.
There are also plans to publish the names of those who have used multiple failed tax avoidance schemes, in a similar method to how the details of deliberate defaulters are published.
The Government has changed tax legislation on numerous occasions since June 2010, in order to deter tax avoidance.
Among the new methods implemented to tackle the issue are the introduction of accelerated payment notices (APNs), demonstrated by the recent media focus on a number of professional footballers who have received them; follower notices; increased regulation of DOTAS (disclosure of tax avoidance schemes); the promoters of tax avoidance schemes (POTAS) regime; and the general anti-abuse rule (the GAAR).
HMRC already has multiple powers against tax evasion, but the consultation seeks to enforce a more rigorous clampdown.