Budget 2009 – Deliberate tax defaulters
The Chancellor announced that the UK is to introduce legislation which will allow for the names of serious tax defaulters to be made public. This is the first time such action has been taken in the UK.
The measure will affect the following group of taxpayers (individuals, businesses and companies):
- Taxpayers who are penalised for deliberately understating tax due, or overstating claims or losses, of more than £25,000.
- Taxpayers who are penalised for deliberately failing to notify HMRC when required to do so, leading to a loss of tax of more than £25,000.
- Taxpayers who are penalised for deliberately committing certain VAT and excise wrongdoings, leading to a loss of tax of more than £25,000.
Taxpayers who make unprompted disclosures or a satisfactory full prompted disclosure will not be affected. HMRC will publish quarterly the names of tax defaulters which will include address details, trade or profession, amount of tax, interest and penalties and the relevant period. The implementation date for this measure has not yet been announced.