Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much it will cost to staff and administer the Loan Charge, including the cost of legal advice and consultants.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold a breakdown of the total amount of costs relating to the Loan Charge. Although HMRC attributes sums to certain specific business areas, it cannot further break down the sums to cost specific tasks undertaken by those business areas.

The Loan Charge was introduced in 2016 to tackle disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes. There are a number of different teams that work on the Loan Charge including policy, delivery, operational, and legal. HMRC will also sometimes resource from outside those teams; for example, HMRC will, when needed, incur costs instructing external bodies such as counsel.

To obtain and compile a total cost figure for all costs relating to the Loan Charge since 2016 would therefore come at a disproportionate cost.