Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will limit disguised remuneration loan charges to loans entered into after the Finance Act 2017 received Royal Assent; and if he will make a statement.

The charge on disguised remuneration (DR) loans is targeted at artificial tax avoidance schemes where earnings were paid via a third party in the form of ‘loans’ which in reality were never repaid.

DR scheme users took home almost all of their pay tax-free. However, despite the claims made by promoters, these schemes never worked and the amounts paid were always taxable under the law at the time.

The Government has decided that the charge on DR loans is the right way to ensure that everybody pays the taxes they owe and contributes towards the public-funded services from which they benefit.

Restricting the charge only to DR loans entered into after Finance Act 2017 received Royal Assent would not be fair to ordinary taxpayers, who have always paid the right amount of tax and have not engaged in tax avoidance schemes.