HMRC doubles deliberate-defaulter publication threshold to £50,000

HMRC may publish a deliberate tax defaulter's name and other details only where the answer to all five publication questions in its Compliance Handbook is yesGOV. The fifth question — whether the qualifying potential lost revenue (PLR) exceeds the threshold — now sets the line at £50,000GOV. Qualifying PLR of £50,000 or less means no details can be publishedGOV; only a total above £50,000 leaves publication openGOV.

Qualifying PLR is the total PLR on which one or more qualifying relevant penalties is based. A qualifying relevant penalty is a penalty for a deliberate (or deliberate and concealed) inaccuracy, failure or wrongdoing on which the maximum reduction for quality of disclosure has not been given. Where an investigation produces a single qualifying relevant penalty, that penalty's PLR alone must exceed £50,000GOV. Where it produces several, the penalties' combined PLR must exceed £50,000 — but only penalties from the same investigation countGOV. PLR from separate investigations cannot be added together even where they cover the same tax periodsGOV.

The reworked examples show how the higher line bites. In the partnership example, Joseph (£42,000) and Sophie (£24,000) fall below £50,000 so nothing may be published about them, while Isobel (£64,000) and James King Ltd (£70,000) remain publishable. Jivanta's qualifying PLR sits below £50,000, so that default cannot be published. Serge's first investigation likewise stays below the line; only the second investigation, with qualifying PLR above £50,000, is publishable — and its figure cannot be topped up with the earlier check's figure.

The Arthur case study totals qualifying PLR of £61,404 across the remaining penalties, of which £53,404 is final and above £50,000, so referral stands. Referral remains the end of the same test: once all five answers are yes and the relevant penalty or group of penalties has become final, the compliance officer must refer the case to the Publishing Deliberate Defaulters Specialist TeamGOV.

For partnerships whose profits are charged to income tax, capital gains tax or corporation tax, the test applies per partner rather than to the partnershipGOV, since the partners incur the Schedule 24 or Schedule 41 penalties. The change tracks the announced deliberate-defaulters reform, under which separate secondary legislation will raise the statutory publication threshold to £50,000 of potential lost revenue.

Legal basis: section 94 Finance Act 2009, applied through the Compliance Handbook publishing-deliberate-defaulters guidance.