HMRC collects £32m from disputed tax demands

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has pocketed £32 million after demanding early payments of disputed tax from investors in suspected avoidance schemes.

The taxman says this equates to 99% of disputed tax from the first tax avoidance scheme users to be issued with accelerated payment notices.

HMRC said that 30 people were issued with the notices in late August demanding a total of £29 million in disputed tax.

Accelerated payment notices were introduced in July in the Finance Act 2014. They allow tax avoidance scheme users to pay disputed tax 90 days before HMRC challenges the individual’s scheme in court.

So far HMRC has issued 1,750 notices to collect £400 million in tax. Most of the notices have not reached the 90 day deadline.

Financial secretary to the Treasury David Gaulke (pictured) said the high proportion of money collected showed the notices were successful.

‘The high success rate for the first set of Accelerated Payments notices shows avoidance scheme users are having to face up to the reality that they should pay their tax upfront, like the vast majority of taxpayers,’ he said.

‘As we move into 2015 and HMRC ramps up the number of notices it sends out, thousands more will get the message that Accelerated Payments has changed the economics of tax avoidance.’