Five arrests made in relation to suspected loan charge fraud
28 February 2020
Four men and one woman have been arrested on suspicion of fraud in connection with promoting arrangements designed to avoid paying the loan charge. The five individuals arrested will be interviewed under caution by HMRC officers, and a sixth woman will attend a voluntary interview, also under caution.
Officers are looking into several alleged offences, including conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, conspiracy to evade income tax and national insurance contributions, fraud by abuse of position and conspiracy to transfer, disguise and convert criminal property.
Over 100 HMRC officers seized computers, other digital devices and both business and personal records from business premises in the West Midlands, Northumberland, Buckinghamshire and Northern Ireland. Speaking on behalf of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, a spokesman said:
“Those that enable, promote or facilitate tax fraud are firmly in our sights and we currently have more than 200 such suspected enablers under criminal investigation.
We are keen to protect the public from those who devise and market fraudulent schemes which at best do not work and at worse mean that people could end up being involved in fraud.
People need to think extremely carefully before they enter into any scheme that claims to significantly lower your tax bill. If something looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is. HMRC’s advice is firmly to steer clear.”
These interventions are the latest in a series where HMRC is targeting fraud offences associated with disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes.
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