Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the tax HMRC believes was avoided through disguised remuneration schemes will be paid by those who (a) recommended, (b) promoted and (c) operated those schemes.

Disguised remuneration (DR) avoidance schemes seek to avoid tax that is due from those that use them, so action to counteract this involves a tax charge on the scheme user, rather than the promoter or enablers of such schemes.

Where the user was employed, HMRC will go to the employer to settle the tax due or collect the Loan Charge in the first instance. Where collection from an employer is not possible, such as when the employer no longer exists or is based offshore, HMRC considers other options to collect the tax due. Approximately 80 per cent of the £3.4 billion HMRC brought into charge through DR settlements between Budget 2016 and the end of March 2022 was from employers.

The Government and HMRC are committed to tackling promoters and enablers of tax avoidance schemes. HMRC can charge enablers of defeated tax avoidance schemes penalties of up to 100 per cent of the fees earned, and legislation included in Finance Acts 2021 and 2022 strengthens and accelerates this power and other measures to tackle promoters and enablers. The First-Tier Tribunal has recently imposed a penalty on a promoter for failing to disclose a scheme under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) regime in excess of £1 million.