Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many HMRC staff have been appointed to pursue and issue penalties to promoters of disguised remuneration and other tax avoidance schemes under (a) Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes, (b) Promoters of Tax Avoidance Schemes and (c) Penalties for Enablers of Defeated Tax Avoidance.

In March 2020, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published their strategy for tackling promoters of tax avoidance schemes, including disguised remuneration schemes. The strategy sets out HMRC’s work to date and outlines how HMRC will continue to take robust action against promoters of tax avoidance. The Promoter Strategy is available on GOV.UK.

HMRC are committed to challenging promoters, and will always pursue penalties in appropriate cases, under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS), the Promoters of Tax Avoidance Schemes (POTAS) and the Enablers regimes. The Government announced on 12 November further proposals in the L-Day package to tackle promoters, which it will consult on in Spring.

In 2019-20 HMRC doubled the resources committed to tackling promoters and disrupting their business models by persuading taxpayers to get out of avoidance at an early stage. HMRC now have about 200 Full Time Equivalents working in this area; the teams use all the powers available to HMRC to tackle promoters. HMRC do not have separately identified staff pursuing each penalty type in isolation.