Guidance

Disguised remuneration: re-describing loans (Spotlight 39)

HMRC is aware of schemes that claim to avoid the 2019 loan charge on disguised remuneration. These schemes don바카라 사이트™t work.

How re-describing loans is claimed to work

Scheme users are being told they can sign documents saying that the sums they바카라 사이트™ve received from their disguised remuneration scheme under loan agreements are not loans at all. Instead, these sums of money are merely held by them in a 바카라 사이트˜fiduciary capacity바카라 사이트™ 바카라 사이트“ for example, an individual acts in a fiduciary capacity if they hold money, or assets, for the benefit of someone else, not themselves.

It바카라 사이트™s wrong to claim that the loan charge won바카라 사이트™t apply because the sums received aren바카라 사이트™t loans.

Why you shouldn바카라 사이트™t use this scheme

Renaming something now doesn바카라 사이트™t change what happened in the past. Attempting to describe a loan as something else doesn바카라 사이트™t mean it바카라 사이트™s not a loan.

The loan charge will apply to more than just loans, including any form of credit or other right to a payment regardless of what it바카라 사이트™s called. If you adopt this approach and choose not to reflect the loan charge on your tax return you may face a significant penalty in addition to the tax charge.

Deliberately misleading, or concealing information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) may result in criminal prosecution.

What to do if you바카라 사이트™re using one of these schemes

The only way you can avoid the new loan charge in 2019 is by making a repayment of the loan balance or settling your tax liability with HMRC in advance.

If you바카라 사이트™re already speaking to someone at HMRC about your use of a disguised remuneration scheme, you should contact them.

If you바카라 사이트™re not already speaking to someone at HMRC, you should email: CAGetHelpOutOfTaxAvoidance@hmrc.gov.uk.

Find out more about how to identify tax avoidance schemes.

Updates to this page

Published 10 August 2017

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