In September 2019, the Government commissioned Sir Amyas Morse to lead the independent loan charge review. The loan charge is designed to tackle disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes. These are tax arrangements that seek to avoid income tax and national insurance contributions by paying scheme users income in the form of loans, usually via an offshore trust, with no expectation that the loans will ever be repaid.
On 20 December 2019, the Government published the review and the Government’s response to the review. The Government accepted all but one of the review’s recommendations (HCWS14).
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has today published draft legislation to give effect to these changes, alongside explanatory notes and a tax information and impact note. These can be found using the links below.
The draft legislation and explanatory notes: https://www. gov.uk/government/collections/finance-bill-2019-20
The tax information and impact note: https://www.gov. uk/government/collections/tax-information-and-impact-notes-tiins
HMRC will hold an informal four-week consultation on the draft legislation to invite views from stakeholders. The Government intend to legislate for the changes in the forthcoming Finance Bill, which will be introduced after the Budget.
The draft legislation that the Government have published today does not cover the Government’s commitment that HMRC will repay settlements where voluntary restitution has been paid by individuals and employers for years no longer subject to the loan charge because the year is unprotected. Legislation giving effect to this commitment, together with details of the repayment scheme, will be published separately ahead of the Finance Bill. The scheme will be legislated for at the earliest opportunity in the Finance Bill, alongside the other changes to the loan charge.
HMRC has also published further guidance for taxpayers on the changes to the loan charge following Sir Amyas’s review. This supplements the guidance published on 20 December.
[HCWS45]