Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will hold discussions with HMRC on the difference between the loan charge settlement terms offered to (a) large companies and (b) other people.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government commissioned an independent review of the loan charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. The Government will respond by Autumn Budget 2025.
HMRC applies the law fairly and consistently in accordance with its published Litigation and Settlement Strategy (LSS). This ensures every taxpayer, no matter who they are, pays the tax due under the law.
Central to the LSS is that HMRC will not settle a dispute by agreement for an amount which is less than it would reasonably expect to obtain from litigation.
HMRC’s Litigation and Settlement strategy can be found on gov.uk: www.gov.uk/government/publications/litigation-and-settlement-strategy-lss
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of trends in the level of tax (a) evasion and (b) avoidance linked to candy retail stores.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As my rt. hon Friend the Prime Minister said, the Government recently launched a major crackdown against criminals using high street businesses to launder money at almost 400 properties, which involved securing freezing orders over bank accounts totaling more than £1 million and arresting 35 individuals.
HMRC is leading a cross-Government risk assessment to establish a shared understanding of the key risks and their underlying drivers. The findings of this assessment will inform a revitalised and more ambitious coordinated cross-government approach to addressing the harms associated with these retail models.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of legislative changes to require HMRC to prioritise investigations of (a) promoters and (b) perpetrators of fraudulent schemes over investigations of (i) professional footballers, (ii) loan charge victims and (c) other individuals misled into such schemes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC already takes action against those behind tax avoidance schemes by using a variety of legislation and tools to challenge promoters and others in the tax avoidance supply chain.
HMRC also regularly publishes information on tax avoidance schemes, those who promote them and others connected to avoidance schemes, to help customers identify, avoid, and exit them. As of 4 September 2025, HMRC has published details of more than 170 tax avoidance schemes and named more than 170 promoters on GOV.UK
The Government is determined to do more to close in on promoters of marketed tax avoidance and recently consulted on a package of measures to strengthen existing powers. This includes proposals to:
Where individuals owe tax, HMRC seeks to take a supportive and proportionate approach to recovering the amount due, including providing extra support for individuals who need it and offering ‘Time to Pay’ instalment arrangements where appropriate.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of compliance with international tax standards by the Overseas Territories.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The inhabited Overseas Territories are largely self-governing jurisdictions with democratically elected governments, and are responsible for fiscal matters.
All Overseas Territories with financial centres have committed to upholding international tax standards, including those on tax transparency and exchange of information, and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.
Compliance with international standards is assessed through a system of peer reviews and monitoring within the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
The UK also works bilaterally with the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories on issues of mutual concern. For example, on 27 May 2025, the UK and Isle of Man issued a joint statement, agreeing to explore ways to further enhance information flows, joint working and other ways in which tangible benefits for both jurisdictions can be achieved, noting our shared objective of combatting tax avoidance and evasion.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to compensate those adversely affected by the Loan Charge scandal.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Budget 2024, the government committed to an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. The Government will respond by Autumn Budget 2025.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury's oral contribution of 1 July 2025, Official Report, column 137, for what reason her Department did not inform (a) Rt hon. and hon. Members and (b) those (i) contractors, (ii) freelance workers and (iii) small company directors who were (A) mis-sold disguised remuneration schemes and (B) subject to the Loan Charge of HMRC's Loan Charge settlement with multinational companies.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government commissioned an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. The Government will respond by Autumn Budget 2025.
During Oral Questions on 1 July 2025, Greg Smith MP referred to comments made by an external stakeholder that were shared under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. HMRC Officials do not recognise the allegation that HMRC agreed deals with large employers allowing them to settle disguised remuneration liabilities for less than was legally due.
HMRC applies the law fairly and consistently in accordance with its published Litigation and Settlement Strategy (LSS). This ensures every taxpayer, no matter who they are, pays the tax due under the law. Central to the LSS is that HMRC will not settle a dispute by agreement for an amount which is less than it would reasonably expect to obtain from litigation.
HMRC’s Litigation and Settlement strategy can be found on gov.uk: www.gov.uk/government/publications/litigation-and-settlement-strategy-lss
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to FOI2024/01172, if HMRC will now extend 85% discounts to individual taxpayers affected by the Loan Charge.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government commissioned an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. The Government will respond by Autumn Budget 2025.
During Oral Questions on 1 July 2025, the honourable member for Mid Buckinghamshire referred to comments made by an external stakeholder that were shared under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. HMRC Officials do not recognise the allegation that HMRC agreed deals with large employers allowing them to settle disguised remuneration liabilities for less than was legally due.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the requirement in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 that micro-entities publicly file their profit and loss accounts on small businesses.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Department is currently engaging with stakeholders on proposed changes in filing requirements at Companies House, to ensure they strike the right balance between tackling economic crime and avoiding undue burden on business. In 2022, the department estimated that proposed changes to the small accounts regime, which included among other policies the requirement for small and micro-entities to file profit and loss accounts, would result in one-off familiarisation costs to business of £3.2 million in the first year, or £0.4m annual net direct costs to business over 10 years. Recurrent costs from profit and loss account filing were estimated to be negligible.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the G7 side‑by‑side approach on the (a) effective tax rate and (b) competitiveness of UK‑headed multinationals.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor, alongside her G7 counterparts, has reached an understanding on a proposed path forward for the global minimum tax, Pillar 2 of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
The G7 published a statement on 28 June that set out our commitment to the core objectives of Pillar 2: tackling multinational tax avoidance and promoting a stable global tax environment that supports fair competition.
This understanding also included the removal of the retaliatory tax provision (Section 899) in the US’s legislative proposals, which would have imposed a significant additional tax burden on British firms, and which was causing significant concern and uncertainty.
Recent discussions informing this understanding have taken into account concerns raised by the US Treasury regarding the interaction of the Pillar 2 rules with the US minimum tax system, and have focused on developing a potential approach for the US and Pillar 2 system to sit ‘side-by-side’
The more than 140 members of the Inclusive Framework will now take forward the discussions on this potential side-by-side system, which will include ensuring that multinationals in scope of Pillar 2 and the US minimum tax systems are operating on a level playing field.
The UK has already implemented the Pillar 2 rules, including a domestic minimum tax that will ensure all in-scope groups are subject to a minimum 15% effective tax rate in the UK.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the UK's implementation of Pillar Two (a) remains compatible with the future side‑by‑side system agreed by G7 partners and (b) avoids creating additional compliance burdens for UK businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor, alongside her G7 counterparts, has reached an understanding on a proposed path forward for the global minimum tax, Pillar 2 of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
The G7 published a statement on 28 June that set out our commitment to the core objectives of Pillar 2: tackling multinational tax avoidance and promoting a stable global tax environment that supports fair competition
This understanding also included the removal of the retaliatory tax provision (Section 899) in the US’s legislative proposals, which would have imposed a significant additional tax burden on British firms and which was causing significant concern and uncertainty.
Recent discussions informing this understanding have taken into account concerns raised by the US Treasury regarding the interaction of the Pillar 2 rules with the US minimum tax system, and have focused on developing a potential approach for the US and Pillar 2 system to sit ‘side-by-side’
The more than 140 members of the Inclusive Framework will now take forward the discussions on this potential side-by-side system, which will include ensuring that multinationals in scope of Pillar 2 and the US minimum tax systems are operating on a level playing field.
Work to develop a side-by-side system will be undertaken alongside material simplifications being delivered to the overall Pillar 2 administration and compliance framework. The government is committed to driving forward progress, for example on a permanent safe harbour to help deliver this simplification.
Where agreements are reached in the Inclusive Framework, the government will incorporate any updates into UK legislation. This is in line with the government’s commitment in the October 2024 Corporate Tax Roadmap to ensure that the UK reflects internationally agreed rules.