Loan charge MPs want contractor adviser community to participate in latest call for evidence

A cross-party group of MPs are broadening their investigation into the affect the federal government’s controversial anti-disguised remuneration mortgage charge coverage is having on the IT contractor community.

Having invited contractors in-scope of the coverage to share their experiences of dwelling beneath the shadow of the mortgage charge in March 2022, the Loan Charge and Taxpayer Fairness All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) has now launched a second call for evidence.

This one is ready to run till Friday 15 July 2022 and is looking for enter from accountants, tax advisers and attorneys who present assist and help to contractors as they negotiate their mortgage charge investigations with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The APPG mentioned in an announcement: “Since the formation of the APPG again in 2018, appreciable quantities of vital evidence have been offered, each in writing and in oral evidence, by skilled advisers… and it’s hoped that the second tranche of evidence will additional exhibit the truth of the coverage on folks and their households, one thing that HMRC and the Treasury proceed to search to ignore and deny.

“The insight from professional advisers, who represent and are assisting individuals, will be invaluable in giving an oversight of the situation their clients are in and of their own experiences of dealing with HMRC.”

The APPG mentioned that even in cases the place contractors have reached a settlement with HMRC, it’s nonetheless eager to hear from the advisers who labored with them by means of that course of and is inviting them to share their feedback via a PDF form on the group’s website.

The mortgage charge coverage, launched in the 2017 Budget, is geared in the direction of recouping the tax HMRC claims that contractors prevented paying by opting to have a part of their wage paid to them in the type of non-taxable loans when engaged on assignments between December 2010 and 5 April 2019.

Loan-based remuneration schemes are recognized to have proliferated in the wake of the IR35 reforms being launched on the flip of the millennium, with setups generally marketed by means of non-compliant umbrella corporations as an HMRC-approved means for contractors to bolster their take-home pay by artificially minimising their employment tax liabilities.

Thousands of IT contractors who took half in these schemes in the nine-year interval to 5 April 2019 have since been landed with six-figure tax payments from HMRC, reportedly ensuing in mass bankruptcies and contributing to at the very least eight suicides.

Sammy Wilson MP, co-chair of the Loan Charge APPG, mentioned the knowledge it had obtained so removed from individuals in the contractor-focused call for evidence had offered a “harrowing” perception into the toll the coverage was taking over folks.

“The evidence sent to us so far from individuals is compelling and also harrowing, with a shocking number of people reporting serious problems including marital breakdown, mental health issues and with a very worrying 15% of people saying they have had suicidal thoughts or actual intent,” mentioned Wilson.

“We now wish to hear from advisers, many of whom work extremely hard doing all they can to support clients, often in the face of communication issues with HMRC. So we believe their insight will also be very valuable in demonstrating the reality of the situation – something that is, alas, ignored and denied by HMRC and the Treasury.”

Greg Smith MP, fellow Loan Charge APPG co-chair, mentioned the group remained “deeply concerned” concerning the affect the coverage was having on the people in-scope of it and their households.  

“It is clear from the evidence received so far that the situation is very serious and that without change from the Treasury and HMRC, there will be devastating consequences,” he mentioned. “We now wish to hear from advisers about the situation they face dealing with HMRC and supporting clients and we hope this will further add to the picture, which is becoming increasingly difficult for ministers to continue to ignore.”