Press Releases

23 April 2009

Budget: HMRC gets more far-reaching new powers to punish taxpayers

HM Revenue & Customs is to get far-reaching new powers to punish taxpayers who fail to pay the right amount of tax. These include:

Roger Williams, Partner, Wilkins Kennedy, comments:

The power to ‘name and shame’ non-compliant taxpayers on a public register

“This raises questions of taxpayers’ right to privacy. You could argue that if shoplifters were publicly named and shamed it would have a deterrent affect but convicted criminals do have certain rights to privacy. Why should taxpayers who may not have actually been convicted of a criminal offence be publicly humiliated in this way? There are some real civil liberties issues at stake here.”

The ability to deduct tax directly from taxpayers salaries without a court order

“HMRC will be able to recover tax it believes it is owed much faster than it can at present leaving taxpayers with much less room for negotiation. Who will decide how much HMRC is allowed to deduct?”

“At the moment HMRC has to satisfy an entirely independent judge that its assessment of what taxpayers’ owe is accurate before it can access peoples’ bank accounts. Removing that safeguard will leave taxpayers could leave taxpayers exposed to errors or the simple misuse of power.”

The power to force taxpayers who have been fined for deliberately understating more than £5,000 in tax to complete more complex tax returns for five years

“It is the equivalent of probation for taxpayers. It will allow HMRC to keep a close eye on those taxpayers it regards as being particularly high risk so as to prevent re-offending.”

ENDS

Press enquiries:

Roger Williams
Partner
Wilkins Kennedy
Tel: 01784 435 561

Paul Arvanitopoulos or Nick Mattison
Mattison Public Relations
Tel: 020 7645 3636