The introduction of the retrospective loan charge has been extremely controversial with taxpayers facing bankruptcy and a recent damning report stating that the charge has resulted in at least one suicide. Despite recommendations for the charge to be suspended for a 6 month period, HMRC is still active in pursuing offenders and this has led to warnings from experts about schemes that help to avoid the loan charge.
Those warnings have been proven correct after six people were arrested. Schemes are appearing that promise to avoid the loan charge – usually by artificially repaying the outstanding loans. Following investigations by HMRC, they have made two raids which included up to fifty officers over the past two weeks. The raids have resulted in six arrests on suspicion of cheating the public revenue and committing fraud by false representation. HMRC deemed the schemes “contrived tax avoidance” and they warned, people who use such schemes run the risk of losing even more money and will be partaking in fraudulent behaviour.
Here is a link to the full telegraph article given the details of the arrests – Six Arrested in Tax Avoidance Crackdown
Given the controversial nature of the loan charge and the potential findings of a pending independent review, expect further developments in the saga of the loan charge.
