If you have been investigated under the Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF) and Code of Practice 9 (CoP9) then you may be included under the Managing Serious Defaulters programme.

HMRC can monitor any individual or business they consider to be a serious defaulter. A serious defaulter is defined by HMRC as a taxpayer who is:

• charged a penalty because of their deliberate behaviour under specific taxes legislation;
• identified during a civil investigation of fraud, as presenting a continuing high risk;
• charged a civil evasion penalty for dishonesty;
• who’ve paid a security for VAT, Environmental Taxes, PAYE or National Insurance contributions;
• who tried to get out of paying what they owe by becoming insolvent;
• successfully prosecuted.

Who will be monitored?

Any individual(s) or company/business.

How long will a taxpayer be monitored for?

HMRC will continue to monitor a taxpayer until they are satisfied that a taxpayer is meeting their tax obligations and they have changed their previous non-compliant behaviour.  In all cases this will depend upon the facts but in most cases this will be between 2 and 5 years.

As part of the work I do for my clients where the Managing Serious Defaulters programme may feature, I have been successful in persuading HMRC to keep any such monitoring to an absolute minimum, if it is at all necessary.

Help is at hand

If you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact me at paul@pmc.tax or on 07979 313 010.