An estate agent and a lettings firm have been ‘named and shamed’ by HMRC within a list of what it calls “deliberate tax defaulters”.

Named among several hundred people and companies, both the agent and firm are described as receiving penalties for deliberately defaulting on their tax obligations where the tax lost exceeds £25,000.

In each case, the taxpayer “failed to fully disclose their default to HMRC at the outset of an investigation”.

Details of the people and firms involved will remain published for 12 months, but HMRC is at pains to point out that its list only includes those penalised under civil procedures and does not include criminal convictions for tax fraud.

The estate agent involved is NW9 and Harrow based Ali Abdulmelik Riehan Alihussynwy, who must pay a penalty of just under £28,000 along with Surrey and Essex firm Let Britain Global Limited, which faces a penalty of £55,000.

Kevin Hubbard, HMRC’s Director of Individuals and Small Business Compliance, says: “The overwhelming majority pay the tax they owe, but for those who refuse, we use a range of tools to take firm action.

“This includes publishing the names of those penalised for deliberate defaults to influence taxpayer behaviour and encourage defaulters to engage with HMRC.”

Investigated

A ‘deliberate tax defaulter’ is classed as a taxpayer who has been investigated by HMRC and charged a penalty for either deliberate errors in their tax returns or a deliberate failure to notify a liability to tax.

HMRC introduced this ‘naming and shaming’ policy in 2009 to deter people from becoming deliberate defaulters and to encourage those that do deliberately default to come forward and make an unprompted voluntary disclosure, which may prevent HMRC from publishing their details.

HMRC also publishes lists of firms that don’t pay staff the minimum wage or who have received fines for AML breaches.