Asked by: Peter Swallow (Labour - Bracknell)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to implement the recommendation of the Independent Loan Charge Review 2025 on holding promoters of loan charge schemes to account.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Government’s response to the Loan Charge Review, since the Loan Charge was introduced, HMRC’s approach to tackling promoters has become far more robust.
The Government is also introducing new powers in Finance Bill 2025/26 to close in on promoters of marketed tax avoidance and the other professionals who market or enable tax avoidance schemes.
These new powers will go further and include more criminal sanctions. This shows the Government’s clear determination to close in on the few remaining promoters by strengthening deterrents and introducing significant additional consequences for promoters who continue promoting tax avoidance schemes.
The Government will also publish a consultation in early 2026 on further measures for tackling promoters of avoidance.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with (i) London Councils and (ii) Westminster City Council on second homes council tax premium (a) evasion and (b) avoidance since July 2024; and what representations his Department has received on that issue.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are required to administer and enforce the council tax system. This includes managing and addressing any potential cases of avoidance or evasion in the system, including council tax premiums. The government does not advise local authorities on how they should handle potential cases of avoidance or evasion.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 88720 on Second Homes: Council tax, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of council tax evasion from the second homes council tax premium by residents not telling their local billing authority that the dwelling is occupied as a second home.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not collect data on avoidance or evasion of the second homes premium. As noted in my response to Question 88720, it is for local authorities to manage and address any potential cases of fraud in the council tax system.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs has updated its assessment of the number of suicides linked to the loan charge since January 2023; and whether the Government plans to publish updated figures on a routine basis.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government promised to commission a new independent review of the loan charge and that is what it delivered. The purpose of the review was to bring the matter to a close for people who have not settled and paid their loan charge liabilities. The Government accepted all but one of the review’s recommendations and in a number of instances has decided to go further.
Most notably, we decided to write off the first £5,000 of everyone’s liability, providing significant relief to those with the lowest liabilities who are more likely to have been lower earners and targeting support at those who most need it. Because of the decisions the Government has taken, around 30 percent of people within scope of the review could have their liabilities removed entirely. Most other individuals will see their liabilities reduced by at least half.
HMRC are committed to supporting customers through this process and are working hard to give them certainty on their tax positions as quickly as possible. This includes a dedicated service to guide customers through the settlement process and provide extra support for those who need it. Anyone who is worried about a tax liability should get in touch with HMRC as soon as possible. HMRC can provide reasonable adjustments to meet an individual’s needs and is working with Samaritans to provide guidance to advisors and signposting taxpayers where needed to a dedicated Samaritans helpline.
Any loss of life is a tragedy. The government and HMRC take the safeguarding of individuals and issues relating to loss of life extremely seriously. HMRC has a statutory obligation to refer incidences of death or serious injury of a customer, where there is an indication that HMRC contact may have directly or indirectly contributed to the event, to external oversight bodies. Since March 2019, HMRC has made eleven referrals to the Independent Office for Police Conduct where a taxpayer has sadly taken their life and had used a disguised remuneration scheme. HMRC does not currently have arrangements in place to routinely publish these figures.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the use of Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories as safe havens for ultra-high net worth individuals with significant political exposure; and how they are enforcing any preventative efforts.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Corruption and illicit finance undermine effective governance in the UK and penalise legitimate UK businesses overseas.
While the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories are distinct, largely self-governing jurisdictions with elected governments responsible for their own domestic affairs, the UK Government is committed to working with these international financial centres to tackle corruption and prevent money laundering.
The Home Office and the Foreign Office work with the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories to help strengthen their approaches to beneficial ownership transparency. The Government’s ultimate expectation remains the introduction of publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership registers; however, the steps they are taking to implement legitimate interest access to their registers are welcome. Minister Doughty recently met with the Overseas Territories at the Joint Ministerial Council; the communique, which was published on November 28 2025, outlines the Overseas Territories’ progress.
This remains a priority for the UK government, reflected in a commitment within the recently published 2025 Anti-Corruption Strategy to strengthen beneficial ownership transparency across the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
The UK also supports the Crown Dependencies and all Overseas Territories with financial centres commitment to uphold international tax standards, including the tax transparency framework and the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Framework.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to take steps to stop joint ventures using corporation tax reliefs through the purchase or transfer of trading losses.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Group relief allows the transfer of allowable losses from one company to another in the same group. Consortium relief is a type of group relief which allows companies that jointly own another company (a consortium company) to obtain relief for their share of that company’s tax losses, so that they are taxed on a measure of profits that reflects losses they may make from their participation in a joint venture.
For these reliefs to apply, groups and consortia must meet certain eligibility criteria. For example, both types of relief are available to companies that have specific shareholding ownership relationships and are subject to UK Corporation tax. Joint ventures must meet the eligibility criteria to claim relief which is limited by reference to the proportion of member’s economic interest in the consortium company.
Existing legislation already contains targeted anti‑avoidance provisions designed to prevent the exploitation of losses, and the Government keeps these rules under review.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HMRC has made of the number of individuals and companies that are liable for tax but are not currently being actively pursued for payment.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to closing the tax gap further and tackling non-compliant behaviours such as tax evasion, tax avoidance, criminal attacks, error, failure to take reasonable care, hidden economy activity, legal interpretation issues, and non-payment.
In 2024 to 2025, HMRC’s compliance work contributed to record tax revenues of £875.9 billion, collecting and protecting £48 billion of tax that would have gone unpaid if HMRC hadn’t stepped in – up from £41.8 billion the previous year.
At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced a package of measures that will raise a further £2.4 billion in additional tax revenues in 2029 to 2030. This builds on announcements at Autumn Budget 2024 (£6.5 billion), and Spring Statement 2025 (over £1 billion) and brings the total revenue from closing the tax gap announced this Parliament to £10 billion in 2029 to 2030.
HMRC pursues unpaid tax liabilities through a number of routes. Those who have not paid will be subject to initial telephone and letter campaigns to encourage swift payment. HMRC also uses private sector debt collection agencies to pursue outstanding amounts. Cases will move between these different stages of the debt collection process as part of being worked.
Where payments remain outstanding, HMRC has a range of enforcement powers to address the small minority of taxpayers who deliberately refuse to pay or engage, such as taking control of goods, recovering debt through county court proceedings, and applying to make a company or person insolvent.
HMRC also publishes its Annual Report and Accounts on GOV.UK, which reports on its annual tax losses and sets out the limited circumstances in which a debt may no longer be pursued.
HMRC records its debt cases by tax regime, rather than customer type, and does not organise cases by specifically which stage of the debt collection process it is at.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much tax revenue is currently outstanding from taxpayers known to be liable but not under active enforcement action by HMRC.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to closing the tax gap further and tackling non-compliant behaviours such as tax evasion, tax avoidance, criminal attacks, error, failure to take reasonable care, hidden economy activity, legal interpretation issues, and non-payment.
In 2024 to 2025, HMRC’s compliance work contributed to record tax revenues of £875.9 billion, collecting and protecting £48 billion of tax that would have gone unpaid if HMRC hadn’t stepped in – up from £41.8 billion the previous year.
At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced a package of measures that will raise a further £2.4 billion in additional tax revenues in 2029 to 2030. This builds on announcements at Autumn Budget 2024 (£6.5 billion), and Spring Statement 2025 (over £1 billion) and brings the total revenue from closing the tax gap announced this Parliament to £10 billion in 2029 to 2030.
HMRC pursues unpaid tax liabilities through a number of routes. Those who have not paid will be subject to initial telephone and letter campaigns to encourage swift payment. HMRC also uses private sector debt collection agencies to pursue outstanding amounts. Cases will move between these different stages of the debt collection process as part of being worked.
Where payments remain outstanding, HMRC has a range of enforcement powers to address the small minority of taxpayers who deliberately refuse to pay or engage, such as taking control of goods, recovering debt through county court proceedings, and applying to make a company or person insolvent.
HMRC also publishes its Annual Report and Accounts on GOV.UK, which reports on its annual tax losses and sets out the limited circumstances in which a debt may no longer be pursued.
HMRC records its debt cases by tax regime, rather than customer type, and does not organise cases by specifically which stage of the debt collection process it is at.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of unpaid tax liabilities is written off each year; and according to what criteria HMRC determines when a tax debt will no longer be pursued.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to closing the tax gap further and tackling non-compliant behaviours such as tax evasion, tax avoidance, criminal attacks, error, failure to take reasonable care, hidden economy activity, legal interpretation issues, and non-payment.
In 2024 to 2025, HMRC’s compliance work contributed to record tax revenues of £875.9 billion, collecting and protecting £48 billion of tax that would have gone unpaid if HMRC hadn’t stepped in – up from £41.8 billion the previous year.
At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced a package of measures that will raise a further £2.4 billion in additional tax revenues in 2029 to 2030. This builds on announcements at Autumn Budget 2024 (£6.5 billion), and Spring Statement 2025 (over £1 billion) and brings the total revenue from closing the tax gap announced this Parliament to £10 billion in 2029 to 2030.
HMRC pursues unpaid tax liabilities through a number of routes. Those who have not paid will be subject to initial telephone and letter campaigns to encourage swift payment. HMRC also uses private sector debt collection agencies to pursue outstanding amounts. Cases will move between these different stages of the debt collection process as part of being worked.
Where payments remain outstanding, HMRC has a range of enforcement powers to address the small minority of taxpayers who deliberately refuse to pay or engage, such as taking control of goods, recovering debt through county court proceedings, and applying to make a company or person insolvent.
HMRC also publishes its Annual Report and Accounts on GOV.UK, which reports on its annual tax losses and sets out the limited circumstances in which a debt may no longer be pursued.
HMRC records its debt cases by tax regime, rather than customer type, and does not organise cases by specifically which stage of the debt collection process it is at.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what measures HMRC has in place to prevent deliberate non-payment of tax by those who are liable but expect not to be pursued.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to closing the tax gap further and tackling non-compliant behaviours such as tax evasion, tax avoidance, criminal attacks, error, failure to take reasonable care, hidden economy activity, legal interpretation issues, and non-payment.
In 2024 to 2025, HMRC’s compliance work contributed to record tax revenues of £875.9 billion, collecting and protecting £48 billion of tax that would have gone unpaid if HMRC hadn’t stepped in – up from £41.8 billion the previous year.
At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced a package of measures that will raise a further £2.4 billion in additional tax revenues in 2029 to 2030. This builds on announcements at Autumn Budget 2024 (£6.5 billion), and Spring Statement 2025 (over £1 billion) and brings the total revenue from closing the tax gap announced this Parliament to £10 billion in 2029 to 2030.
HMRC pursues unpaid tax liabilities through a number of routes. Those who have not paid will be subject to initial telephone and letter campaigns to encourage swift payment. HMRC also uses private sector debt collection agencies to pursue outstanding amounts. Cases will move between these different stages of the debt collection process as part of being worked.
Where payments remain outstanding, HMRC has a range of enforcement powers to address the small minority of taxpayers who deliberately refuse to pay or engage, such as taking control of goods, recovering debt through county court proceedings, and applying to make a company or person insolvent.
HMRC also publishes its Annual Report and Accounts on GOV.UK, which reports on its annual tax losses and sets out the limited circumstances in which a debt may no longer be pursued.
HMRC records its debt cases by tax regime, rather than customer type, and does not organise cases by specifically which stage of the debt collection process it is at.