Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the propriety of Fujitsu's bid for the Trader Support Service contract in the light of the fact that the company has not yet contributed to compensation for victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
All of our contract opportunities are publicly available through Contracts Finder and/or Find A Tender Service and are available to any economic operator that is able to meet the requirements of the procurement in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or The Procurement Regulations 2024, as applicable.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people will be made bankrupt as a result of the 2019 Loan Charge.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Disguised Remuneration schemes are contrived arrangements that pay loans in place of ordinary remuneration with the sole purpose of avoiding income tax and National Insurance contributions. When taking into account the loan they received, loan scheme users have on average twice as much income as the average UK taxpayer.
HMRC data indicates that fewer than 3% of those affected work in medical services (doctors and nurses) and teaching. Further information can be found in HMRC’s issue briefing: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans.
HMRC is working hard to help individuals to get out of tax avoidance for good. HMRC does not want to make anybody bankrupt and very few cases ever reach that stage.
HMRC has simplified the process for those who choose to settle their use of avoidance schemes before the charge arises, so that those earning less than £50,000 a year and no longer engaging in tax avoidance can agree a payment plan of up to five years without the need for detailed supporting information. There is no maximum period within which an overall settlement can be agreed, and HMRC will deal with individual cases appropriately and sympathetically.
Since the announcement of the 2019 loan charge at Budget 2016, HMRC has agreed settlements on disguised remuneration schemes with employers and individuals of over 650 million pounds. More than 90% of this amount was collected from employers, with less than 10% from individuals.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) doctors and (b) nurses that will be subject to the 2019 Loan Charge.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Disguised Remuneration schemes are contrived arrangements that pay loans in place of ordinary remuneration with the sole purpose of avoiding income tax and National Insurance contributions. When taking into account the loan they received, loan scheme users have on average twice as much income as the average UK taxpayer.
HMRC data indicates that fewer than 3% of those affected work in medical services (doctors and nurses) and teaching. Further information can be found in HMRC’s issue briefing: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans.
HMRC is working hard to help individuals to get out of tax avoidance for good. HMRC does not want to make anybody bankrupt and very few cases ever reach that stage.
HMRC has simplified the process for those who choose to settle their use of avoidance schemes before the charge arises, so that those earning less than £50,000 a year and no longer engaging in tax avoidance can agree a payment plan of up to five years without the need for detailed supporting information. There is no maximum period within which an overall settlement can be agreed, and HMRC will deal with individual cases appropriately and sympathetically.
Since the announcement of the 2019 loan charge at Budget 2016, HMRC has agreed settlements on disguised remuneration schemes with employers and individuals of over 650 million pounds. More than 90% of this amount was collected from employers, with less than 10% from individuals.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many companies have been prosecuted for tax evasion during the last 10 years; and what revenue has been recovered as a result of those prosecutions.
Answered by David Gauke
The information is not held in the form requested.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have been prosecuted for tax evasion during the last 10 years; and what revenue has been recovered as a result of those prosecutions.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) holds a central record of the number of individuals subject to criminal investigation for tax evasion, together with subsequent prosecutions covering the period from 2011/12 to 2014/15. HMRC does not hold a central record of the number of prosecutions and convictions broken down in this way for earlier years.
The total number of criminal prosecutions of individuals for tax evasion during the period 2011/12 to 2014/15 was 2404. 'Revenue Loss Prevented' is the HMRC management information measure recorded in such cases and the total amount of Revenue Loss Prevented from 2011/12 to 2014/15 was £ 5,070,538,527.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of small business start-ups on the wider economy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Gauke
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, and the UK is a great place to start a business. At the start of 2014 there were 5.2 million small businesses in the UK, an increase of 760,000 since 2010. These small businesses employ 12.1 million people – 48% of total UK private sector employment – and have a combined annual turnover of £1.2 trillion: 33% of the UK private sector total. The government has backed small businesses, including with 25,000 Start Up Loans, tax incentives for investment, and the £2000 Employment Allowance which means 450,000 businesses now pay no employers NICs.