Treasury Committee must speak to victims of 'human tragedies' behind loan charge: Greg Wright

The 10 people who have died by suicide while facing the loan charge were rightly in MPs’ thoughts. To quote Greg Smith MP, co-chairman of the the Loan Charge & Taxpayer Fairness All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG): “Those are not numbers on a page; they are human tragedies. Each one is a poignant reminder of the injustices felt by individuals who are still grappling with the devastating consequences of the amount of money asked of them—in some cases, more than they earned in the first place. The profound impact of the loan charge extends its reach far beyond mere statistics and financial repercussions. It is a devastating narrative that encompasses contractors, freelancers and agency workers from all walks of life. Those professionals, seeking compliance under IR35 legislation, took and followed professional guidance in good faith.”

In response, Mr Huddleston told MPs: “I stand ready always to listen but that review (by Lord Morse) stood up well … it was thorough, significant and 19 of the changes were implemented, so a hugely impactful review.”

So what happens next? MPs will be seeking a robust response from the Treasury Committee. Membership of the APPG has grown to 267 members which is further evidence of cross-party concern about the charge’s impact on vulnerable people. Many people will have welcomed the committee’s decision to write to HMRC to quiz officials about their work in connection with the loan charge. However, the replies did not impress the APPG. The letter from HMRC confirmed that here have been no prosecutions of individuals for the promotion and operation of schemes subject to the loan charge, although one individual involved in selling these schemes as been convicted for a related offence. Around 40,000 individuals and 5,000 employers have not settled with HMRC.

In the letter to the committee, Jim Harra chief executive of HMRC, said: “We do not recognise recent claims that HMRC operates without scrutiny, particularly on the loan charge. It is simply not the case that HMRC is unaccountable or operates without oversight.”

However Mr Smith told Sky News that, without a change of approach from HMRC, the APPG was very fearful of the consequences “and we hope the Select Committee will join us in properly holding HMRC to account, before more lives are ruined".

The Treasury Committee must call for testimony from the thousands of people whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the loan charge and the tax professionals who are trying to support them. Without this evidence, how can the committee form a balanced view of a policy which has caused “serious distress” for far too long?

Greg Wright is deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post.