New powers given under Finance Act 2009, s. 94 will come into force on 1 April 2010 and will allow HMRC to make public details of taxpayers and companies who deliberately evade taxes.
Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:
“It is only right that people pay their fair share of tax, which supports vital public services. We know that law-abiding taxpayers will want to see the results of HMRC’s investigations into tax cheats.
“This new approach should make people think again about trying to get away with tax fraud. As well as having to pay the tax, interest on the tax, plus penalties of up to 100 per cent of the tax lost, they also now risk being identified publicly.
“We are only targeting deliberate tax evaders. So if you know that you have not paid the right tax, and you want to avoid being named, contact HMRC right away to set things straight.”
It is currently planned that names will be published on HMRC’s website. Because this measure will only be applied for periods starting from 1 April 2010, it is not expected that any names will be published before the first half of 2011.
Taxpayers who may be named are those who have deliberately evaded tax of more than £25,000 in total.
If taxpayers make a full disclosure of any tax wrongs without delay they can avoid having their name and details published.
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