Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2018 to Questions 185525-8 on Tax Avoidance, whom he defines as (a) employers and (b) individuals.

In the context of the legislation at S554A of ITEPA 2003, employers are those who have set up a disguised remuneration (DR) scheme and remunerated their staff or themselves through the DR scheme they have set up. Individuals are employees who are personally responsible for their tax arrangements because HMRC cannot reasonably collect the liability from the employer.

A breakdown of the number of DR users classified as employers who are individuals paid through their own limited companies is not available. However, the structure of this type of scheme and the costs involved with using one means that it is not likely to be an individual paying themselves through their own limited company.

HMRC are pursing employers who have used a DR scheme to pay their employees. So far, over 90% of the £650 million collected since Budget 2016 has been collected from employers.