Tax Avoidance:Written question - 152724 - estimates of schemes

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Dear Her Majesty’s Treasury,

With reference to "Tax Avoidance:Written question - 152724" found here https://www.parliament.uk/business/publi...

Stride's answer says "No estimate has been made of the number of schemes currently operating in the UK."

Can I please have the following information:

1a) When the 2019 Loan Charge was proposed to Treasury Ministers by HMRC in September 2015 and in period following until the legislation was introduced, was any estimate made of the number of schemes in operation provided to the Treasury by HMRC (or any other body)?

1b) If there was an estimate provided, can you please give me the estimated figures?

1c) If no estimate was provided to the Treasury by HMRC (or any other body), can you please tell me if estimates of the number of schemes were made by the Treasury and were then used in the process to accept HMRC's proposal for the 2019 Loan Charge?

1d) If no estimates of the number of schemes were used in the process to accept HMRC's proposal for the 2019 Loan Charge, can you tell me if it is standard policy for the Treasury to accept HMRC's proposals without knowing the impact of such proposals?

1e) If no estimates of the number of schemes were used in the process to accept HMRC's proposal for the 2019 Loan Charge, was the Treasury's acceptance of the proposal based on the number of individuals who would be subjected to the 2019 Loan Charge rather than the number of schemes?

I would also like the following information:

2a) When deciding whether to create legislation for HMRC's proposals, how does the Treasury determine if creating legislation will be cost effective?

2b) Can any documents be provided which detail the processes used by the Treasury when deciding to accept proposals from HMRC?

2c) Is any human impact analysis (mental health effects on HMRC customers or expected suicides of HMRC customers as examples) performed by the Treasury or any other body when considering HMRC's proposals?

Yours faithfully,

Chris Sawyer

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