Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2015 to Question 223223, how many of the notifications received by HM Revenue and Customs resulted in (a) court proceedings and (b) a conviction in each of the last five years for which records are available.

The Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes regime to which Question 223223 referred requires promoters of avoidance schemes to notify HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of schemes which meet certain criteria. Users of a notified tax avoidance scheme are required to report this use to HMRC, for appropriate challenge.

Where a dispute on a tax avoidance scheme cannot be settled by agreement, it is open to the user to take the dispute to the Tax Tribunal for a decision. HMRC win around 80% of the avoidance cases users choose to take to court, and many more users decide to settle before they reach litigation.

Tax avoidance schemes are dealt with by way of Tax Tribunal hearing, if necessary moving to the higher Courts where the taxpayer or HMRC are given leave to appeal a decision of the Tribunal.