HMRC faces tough questions on tax evasion from UK government committee

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

HMRC faces tough questions on tax evasion from UK government committee

The UK tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will face questions from the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday afternoon.

HMRC will mainly be asked questions about HSBC, the ‘Lagarde list’ and its methods of dealing with tax evasion. The revenue authority has been criticised several times by PAC chair Margaret Hodge in the past few years.

“You are left wondering, as you see the enormity of what has been going on, what it actually takes to bring a tax cheat to court,” said Hodge today.

The summons comes as thousands of documents belonging to HSBC detailing how the bank’s Swiss operation helped customers avoid millions of pounds in tax were released by the ICIJ, the organisation behind November’s LuxLeaks exposé.

The documents were first seen by French police in 2007, and in 2010 were compiled into the confidential ‘Lagarde list’ – named after then-French finance minister Christine Lagarde – which was given to tax authorities around the world, including HMRC.

“We’ve known [about] this list of 7,000 UK residents who’ve had accounts in Switzerland since 2010,” Hodge told the BBC. “We know that these tax authorities have only pursued around 1,100; they’ve only got in £135 million, much less than other tax authorities across Europe, and they’ve only taken one person to court.”

The Lagarde list led to arrests in Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Spain and the US, causing several politicians to criticise HMRC and the government for not punishing offenders more severely in the UK.

Of the 6,800 UK-resident entities on the list, there was strong enough data to pursue around 3,400 individuals, companies, trusts and partnerships.

“HMRC has focused on taking civil action,” said financial secretary to the treasury David Gauke, defending the revenue authority. “Civil penalties can be very considerable: £135 million of tax, interest and penalties have been recovered.”

“There are large numbers of people who’ve had to pay the tax, pay interest on the tax and pay a penalty as a consequence of action HMRC has taken with that list.”

Due to the upcoming general election, Wednesday’s committee hearing will not be open to the public.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The US president also unveiled a new 50% levy on copper imports; in other news, a UK wealth tax proposal has been criticised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Wim Wuyts, who had been head of the specialist tax network since 2017, is moving on to a new role with WTS’s Belgian member firm
MNEs are increasingly using algorithmic tools in TP. Sahasranshu Dash argues that data ethics should therefore plug directly into the TP design process
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales also queried whether HMRC resources could be better spent scrutinising larger entities
Grant Thornton’s Austria tax head likens his practice to an escape room, shares his football coaching ambitions, and explains why tax is cool
Awards
ITR is delighted to reveal all the shortlisted nominees for the 2025 EMEA Tax Awards
Awards
ITR is delighted to reveal all the shortlisted nominees for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Tax Awards
The fates of pillars one and two hang in the balance after the US successfully threw its weight around in G7 and Canadian negotiations
Rafael Tena tells ITR about the ‘crazy’ Mexican market, ditching the hourly rate, and refusing to grow his fledgling firm in an ‘unstructured way’
It should be easy for advisers to be transparent about costs, Brown Rudnick partner Matthew Sharp said in response to exclusive ITR in-house data
Gift this article