Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential role of chartered accountants in the use of disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to tackling tax avoidance and is consulting on a package of measures, including potential new criminal sanctions, to facilitate swifter and stronger action against those who own or control promoter organisations.
The Government also announced action at 2024 Autumn Budget to tackle tax avoidance by umbrella companies. Legislation, effective from April 2026, will be introduced to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. Where there is no agency in the supply chain, this responsibility will fall to the end client. This along with the measures on promoters will help prevent disguised remuneration in the future.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential role of recruitment companies in the use of disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to tackling tax avoidance and is consulting on a package of measures, including potential new criminal sanctions, to facilitate swifter and stronger action against those who own or control promoter organisations.
The Government also announced action at 2024 Autumn Budget to tackle tax avoidance by umbrella companies. Legislation, effective from April 2026, will be introduced to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. Where there is no agency in the supply chain, this responsibility will fall to the end client. This along with the measures on promoters will help prevent disguised remuneration in the future.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason people who have settled have been excluded from the review into Loan Charge settlements.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government believes the review must bring the Loan Charge to a close for those people who still owe substantial amounts of money but can see no way to resolve their debts
The Government is committed to tackling promoters of tax avoidance and is currently consulting on a package of measures, powers and sanctions to facilitate swifter and stronger action against those who own or control promoter organisations. Further options are under consultation targeting those tax advisors and legal professionals behind avoidance schemes.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason she has ruled out scheme promoters paying a proportion of Loan Charge liabilities.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government believes the review must bring the Loan Charge to a close for those people who still owe substantial amounts of money but can see no way to resolve their debts
The Government is committed to tackling promoters of tax avoidance and is currently consulting on a package of measures, powers and sanctions to facilitate swifter and stronger action against those who own or control promoter organisations. Further options are under consultation targeting those tax advisors and legal professionals behind avoidance schemes.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of making the (a) marketing and (b) operation of disguised remuneration schemes a criminal offence.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The promotion or operation of mass marketed tax avoidance schemes is not, in or of itself, a criminal offence, unless the promoter is acting in breach of an HM Revenue and Customs Stop Notice.
The Government is committed to tackling tax avoidance and is consulting on a package of measures, including potential new criminal powers, to facilitate swifter and stronger action against those who own or control promoter organisations.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of conducting a review into the adequacy of the system of (a) oversight and (b) accountability of HMRC.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
I have overall ministerial responsibility for HMRC and have chaired its Board since September 2024. HMRC is headed by a body of Commissioners, appointed by the Crown, who are required to publish a Charter of Standards of behaviours and values for how they will deal with taxpayers and report on performance against these standards annually. Taxpayers can challenge HMRC’s decisions in the specialist tax tribunal or through the civil courts. Senior HMRC officials are also accountable to parliament and regularly give evidence to the Treasury and Public Accounts committees.
I have set priorities for HMRC to close the tax gap, improve day to day performance and the overall customer experience, and reform and modernise the UK tax and customs system. These are hardwired into the Department’s business plan, and we will be setting out more detail about how we will transform to deliver these priorities in a Transformation Roadmap.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending the Financial Conduct Authority's powers to regulate claims management companies in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government has no plans to extend the Financial Conduct Authority’s powers to regulate claims management activity in Northern Ireland, but continues to keep the territorial scope of the Financial Conduct Authority’s powers under review.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of families eligible for tax free credits have not taken up their entitlement for tax free childcare in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Statistics relating to Tax-Free childcare account usage are published quarterly in "Tax-Free Childcare Statistics" on the gov.uk website.
The current estimated number of families in the UK that are eligible for Tax-Free Childcare is 1.2 million. As this is an estimate, it is not possible to give an exact number of the number of eligible families not using Tax-Free Childcare.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families have taken up tax free childcare allowances in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Statistics relating to Tax-Free childcare account usage are published quarterly in "Tax-Free Childcare Statistics" on the gov.uk website.
The current estimated number of families in the UK that are eligible for Tax-Free Childcare is 1.2 million. As this is an estimate, it is not possible to give an exact number of the number of eligible families not using Tax-Free Childcare.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help ensure that parents who are eligible for tax free childcare in Northern Ireland access that support.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Tax-Free Childcare provides financial support across the UK to eligible working parents with their childcare costs. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account, the Government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 in top up per year for each child up to age 11, and up to £4,000 per disabled child up to the age of 16.
To further support parents and childcare providers, a series of engagement events took place from autumn 2022 to autumn 2023, including with Northern Ireland local councils. This gave families and childcare providers additional support at local levels to improve their understanding and promote the scheme.
The Childcare Choices website provides information on what’s available to help parents with their childcare costs, including what schemes are available in the devolved Nations.