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Introduction

A more aggressive stance is being adopted by HMRC towards those individuals and businesses (sole traders, partnerships and companies) that deliberately get their direct or indirect tax wrong. This is driven by HMRC’s desire to deter people from evading tax and to show the compliant taxpaying majority that it is serious about tackling non-compliance.

The penalty regime for inaccuracies in returns heavily penalises the worst ‘deliberate defaulters’, as HMRC calls them, through higher tax geared penalties, and entry into the Managing Serious Defaulters programme is a further deterrent. More information on the penalty regime can be found in the Penalties for inaccuracies in returns ― overview guidance note.

When HMRC undertakes a criminal investigation and successfully prosecutes the individual or business entity concerned, it makes their details published as a matter of record.

HMRC also has the power to publish the details of deliberate defaulters where the potential lost revenue (PLR) exceeds £25,000. From 1 April 2017, HMRC are also able to publish details of deliberate defaulters, where