HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC’s) campaigns provide opportunities for people to voluntarily put their tax affairs in order. They do this by identifying a group to target and gathering information and intelligence that can be used to encourage and influence that group to come forward. Once a campaign closes, HMRC then uses that same information and intelligence to follow up with action that can include criminal investigations, aimed at those who choose not to pay what they owe.
Campaigns launched so far have produced yield of nearly £510 million from voluntary disclosures, and over £120 million from non compliance follow up from a large numbers of civil interventions, including over 18,000 completed investigations. There are also 23 criminal cases underway with one conviction already secured.
This guide explains which campaigns are due to start and includes links to more information on current campaigns. It also reports progress and results from campaigns that have now closed.
On this page:
There are two HMRC campaigns currently active:
If you want to know more about a particular campaign or would like to discuss your own situation you can call the Campaigns Voluntarily Disclosure Helpline on Tel 0845 601 5041.
The e-marketplaces campaign launched with a first phase notification period opening on 14 March 2012. The campaign will be of interest if you are using e-marketplaces to buy and sell goods as a trade or business and you have not disclosed your income or paid the taxes that are due. Notification to HMRC must be made by 14 June 2012 with disclosure and payment completed by 14 September 2012.
If you only sell a few items and are not actively trading, you are unlikely to be liable to tax and will not be targeted by this campaign.
Read more about the e-marketplaces campaign
This campaign started on 14 February 2012. The Electricians' Tax Safe Plan (ETSP) focuses on electricians and electrical fitters. For this campaign an electrician can be defined as anyone who installs, maintains and tests electrical systems, equipment and appliances under stringent safety regulations.
The ETSP gives an opportunity to electricians to come forward and
declare unpaid tax.
The notification period ended on 15 May 2012 and disclosure, with payment,
must be made by 14 August 2012.
Read more about the Electricians' Tax Safe Plan
Read more about current campaigns
You can find information below about three campaigns that are due to start in the coming months. If you think that one of these forthcoming campaign may apply to you and you want to come forward now you can call the Campaigns Voluntarily Disclosure Helpline on Tel 0845 601 5041.
The Direct Selling campaign will be aimed at those who sell products to customers away from a retail shop, often in the customers own homes. Sellers are sometimes referred to as 'Agents' for the companies whose products they sell. Selling could involve a party, sales door to door or simply selling to friends or relatives. For this campaign however, it will not involve those selling financial products. Sellers or Agents take commission on those sales which they should report to HMRC if they earn enough to pay tax.
This Campaign will focus on helping the increasing numbers of customers involved in direct selling - including those wanting to top up their income from another job or work after redundancy/retirement and those people doing it around caring commitments - to understand their tax obligations and set them on the right track for the future.
The Missing Returns campaign is aimed at individuals who have been sent an Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) tax return or have been told they are required to submit a completed return but have so far failed to do so. The first phase, to be launched in 2012-13, will focus on individuals who have failed to submit completed ITSA returns for 2009-10 and earlier and who are liable to pay tax at the highest rates - 40% and 50%.
This campaign will be part of the wider activity in HMRC aimed at tackling failures to submit completed returns and will provide a time limited opportunity to encourage those who want to get their tax affairs up to date to come forward.
The Trades Sweep-up Campaign is the third campaign focussing on the home repair, maintenance and improvement (Home Maintenance) sector following the Plumbers' Tax Safe Plan and Electricians' Tax Safe Plan campaigns. This 'sweep up' will focus on trades people working in a variety of skilled trades such as roofing, window fitting, carpentry, bricklaying, and joinery.
This campaign will encourage all those trades people working in the home improvement sector with unpaid tax, who have yet to come forward, to bring their tax affairs up to date in a straightforward way using a time limited opportunity.
Read about the Plumbers' Tax Safe Plan
Find more information about the Electricians' Tax Safe Plan
There are a number of campaigns where both the notification and disclosure periods have now closed. If you have unpaid tax that you think could have been reported and paid to HMRC under one of these campaigns, please call the Campaigns Voluntarily Disclosure Helpline on Tel 0845 601 5041.
This campaign closed on 31 March 2012. The Tax Catch Up Plan was for those who provide private tuition, instruction and coaching, either as a main or a secondary income - which they choose not to tell HMRC about.
The campaign covered people providing private lessons, regardless of whether they have a teaching qualification, and could include, for example, fitness, dance or lifestyle coaches through to national curriculum subject tutors and others.
The opportunity for people to notify HMRC of their intention to disclose and pay tax they owe using the Tax Catch Up Plan closed on 6 January 2012. For those who did notify, a full disclosure, with payment, had to be made by 31 March 2012.
People who haven't made a notification under the campaign but still wish to voluntarily disclose income on which tax is owing should call the Tax Catch Up Plan Helpline on Tel 0845 601 8817.
The VAT Initiative campaign, which closed on 31 December 2011, focused on individuals and businesses operating at or above the VAT threshold who had not registered for VAT.
HMRC wrote to over 40,000 businesses to highlight the VAT Initiative and 844 businesses notified HMRC that they should previously have registered for VAT and wished to take part in the campaign. At 31 March 2012, 851 businesses had registered for VAT through the initiative, with 467 of those having now submitted their first VAT Return resulting in revenue of over £9million. HMRC continue to work with hundreds of businesses that came forward to help them reach this stage and get their affairs in order.
If you notified HMRC under the VAT Initiative and completed your VAT registration by 31 December, any penalty due will be lower than if HMRC had enforced your registration. For some, that will mean no penalty charge at all.
HMRC is now using tracing technology, together with information and intelligence gathered from many different sources, to find those who could have taken advantage of this opportunity, but chose not to do so.
Those who HMRC find as part of this follow up work can expect to be charged the highest penalty available.
The Plumbers' Tax Safe Plan (PTSP) closed in August 2011. Over 600 people notified HMRC of an intention to declare unpaid tax, 430 disclosures and over £4 million revenue has been received so far.
Information from a variety of sources that was gathered during the PTSP campaign has led to nearly a thousand civil investigation cases being opened. Completed cases have so far resulted in the recovery of a further £1million in unpaid tax. The information has also allowed HMRC to identify a number of individuals where criminal investigation is the most appropriate course of action.
To date, fourteen plumbers with no record of having paid tax on their earnings have been arrested, across the country including Yorkshire, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Tyne & Wear, Midlands and South Wales. One has now been convicted.
Read the HMRC News Release 'Ghost plumbers arrested in tax raids' (Opens new window)
Read the HMRC News Release “Plumber jailed for tax fraud”(Opens new window)
The Medics Tax Health Plan (THP) campaign, which closed in June 2010, raised more than £10 million from 2160 notifications that led to over 1,500 disclosures. The disclosures included one individual payment of over £1 million by a doctor and one of over £300,000 by a dentist.
The information gathered from THP disclosures and other sources, including payments made by insurance companies, has allowed HMRC to identify and target those they believe should have used the THP campaign to make a disclosure but chose not to. To date this has meant more than 1000 civil investigations have been started.
HMRC is using the information to ask a number of people directly whether they should make a disclosure and has been clear about potential action HMRC can take. Following this, many have quickly decided voluntary cooperation is preferable.
To date HMRC follow up action, targeted at those who should have come forward, has recovered a further £3.1 million in unpaid tax. Criminal investigations are currently under consideration.
If you are a doctor or dentist, although the terms offered by the THP are no longer available you can still volunteer now to cooperate with HMRC. It is better to come forward before HMRC opens an enquiry.
If you would like further advice, please call the Tax Health Plan Support Line on Tel 0845 600 4508 and quote THP-LCOC.
The 2009 New Disclosure Facility (NDO) was designed to provide one final opportunity for UK based individuals and businesses, with unpaid tax linked to an offshore account or asset, to make a disclosure and put their affairs in order.
It raised £85 million from 5,500 disclosures including 15 individual payments over £500,000, four of which were in excess of £1 million. NDO was open to those with any offshore interest, assets or accounts.
Data from 146 financial institutions was provided following successful application to Tax Tribunal in August 2009 and HMRC has used this and other information to open thousands of enquiries that have recovered a further £12 million in unpaid tax since the NDO closed.
The Offshore Disclosure Facility (ODF) was the first HMRC campaign and ran between April and November 2007.
The ODF was based on data obtained from five major UK financial institutions. Like NDO, it gave people or businesses with unpaid tax connected to an offshore account or asset an opportunity to make a full disclosure of liabilities and to pay duties, interest and penalties due.
ODF raised £400 million. The campaign was the first of its kind and provided information and understanding of the way offshore accounts and assets were used that was carried into the first full Offshore Campaign (the NDO) covering all institutions offering offshore facilities to UK based entities.
After the ODF HMRC made follow up enquiries, mainly based on data gathered following a successful application for notices on five major UK financial institutions.
To date follow up activity for the ODF has recovered over £98 million in unpaid tax. Enquiries that are still open will be pursued to conclusion.
