Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, What estimate he has made of the number of people subject to the Loan Charge who have been declared bankrupt.

No estimate of the number of individual bankruptcies has been made, although the original impact assessment acknowledges that there are likely to be some. The impact assessment can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disguised-remuneration-further-update/disguised-remuneration-further-update.

HMRC cannot provide an estimate for the number of people subject to the Loan Charge who have been declared bankrupt, as they could have been declared bankrupt for many reasons and not necessarily as a direct result of a Loan Charge liability. HMRC are not always the only creditor and some people may be declared bankrupt as a result of a non-HMRC debt, and some individuals may choose to enter insolvency themselves based on their overall financial position.

HMRC only ever consider insolvency as a last resort, and encourage people to contact them to agree the best way to settle their tax debts. Anyone who is worried about being able to pay what they owe is encouraged to get in touch with HMRC as soon as possible on 03000 599110.