Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

How many Employers have been, in HMRC's own words "pursued fully and to every extent" for any tax HMRC believe to be due relating to "so called Tax avoidance or Disguised remuneration (DR)

Yours faithfully,

Simon Owen

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Revenue and Customs's handling of my FOI request 'How many Employers have been pursued fully and to every extent for tax believed to be due from "so called" Tax Avoidance / DR Schemes'.

Regardless of the grandiloquence of your reply and your interpretation of section 31(1) (d), I still fail to concur or even understand either your reasons or argument against the full disclosure of these very important events. Matters of such enormous public interest involving the lives of many thousands of people should be made available.

You have not shown any cause, reason or connection how such a disclosure, in your own words, “would be likely to prejudice the assessment or collection of any tax or duty or any imposition of a similar nature.” On the contrary it would more likely to lead to a greater success, again in your own words, in both the assessment, collection of any tax or duty or any imposition of a similar nature. Thus giving a clear warning to all existing and future tax payers to be cautionary in receiving advice from experts!

Unless of course there are matters contained in my request that you may wish to disguise and have remained hidden from public disclosure, on the basis that by doing so may prove detrimental to your own organisation?

After all the prosecutions, if they actual existed, would be a matter of public record, presumably having been aired in open court. They are also referred to in Mel Stride’s answer to a question tabled by Stephen Lloyd MP; so my own request simply seeks clarification and confirmation of the statements made by Mr Mel Stride. Not unreasonable under the circumstances for MPs, especially ministers, to have evidential support from the departments they supposedly represent.

So I beg you to reconsider once more your decision and make a total disclosure.
At the same time, without rhetoric and under the same act, I request the following information.

What was the total cost to the taxpayers in bringing these offenders to court, and what was the financial gain to the taxpayer for having done so?

I would also point out that the person who wrote this letter addressed to me on the 22nd June should takes full responsibility for its contents by identifying themselves with a name. You have used the term “I “on at least two occasions and ended your letter with, “Yours sincerely”. The term Freedom of Information Team will simply not do. It is unprofessional, breaches protocol and is extremely impolite.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

Simon Owen

Dear [email address] on behalf of FOI Central Team,

Regarding your paragraph:

"Following a review of the records we hold, I have established that HMRC does not hold the
information you requested. “Pursued fully and to every extent” is not a term that is used to
categorise the outcome of our enquiries. "

You may want to speak to your DR team and Head of DR as this is the phrase they are using in many of the HMRC webinar regarding DR.

As you stated:
"Pay As You Earn (PAYE) liabilities always fall on the employer in the first instance..."

This reinforces my request to my original question. But to avoid your confusion on this simple question, let me rephrase it for you. Please note this is the same question.

How many Employers have been contacted / approached / reached out to / notified..... for any tax HMRC believe to be due relating to "so called Tax avoidance or Disguised
remuneration (DR).?

As stated by YOU this is your own protocol before contacting the employee.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Owen

Dear [email address] on behalf of FOI Central Team,

Yours sincerely,

Simon Owen

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Revenue and Customs's handling of my FOI request 'How many Employers have been pursued fully and to every extent for tax believed to be due from "so called" Tax Avoidance / DR Schemes'.

All this information is within a database just like the information you use to contact and wrote letters to the Employee.

Somewhere in this database is a Boolean along the lines of "contact_made" with value 'Y' or 'N' along with another along the lines of "case_type" with value "DR".

This information can find out in seconds how many employers they've contacted in relation to DR.

Is there a query or form (or combination of forms) they would have sent to the employer only in relation to a DR case?

Because they log when they send someone a form.

" What unique combination of forms/queries sent to a company would identify them as being a DR case or be indicative of them being a DR case."

See the form letter we all got, the "We are contacting you regarding the tax avoidance scheme you used" letter?

That was a form letter and it will have a code.

There will be an equivalent letter for employers so please use that code.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

Simon Owen

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Revenue and Customs's handling of my FOI request 'How many Employers have been pursued fully and to every extent for tax believed to be due from "so called" Tax Avoidance / DR Schemes'.

The response to your request is long overdue. By law, HMRC should have responded by now

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

Simon Owen

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Little confused here, as we have had two more correspondences from that response with he last correspondence being the 14th of August and yet you have sent through your original request. I'm afraid this isn't;t how this process works. Please review the case notes above, and I await your reply.

I do need this for an article coming out in couple of days so please urgently provide the information I have requested as defined by law.

Yours faithfully,

Simon Owen

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Revenue and Customs's handling of my FOI request 'How many Employers have been pursued fully and to every extent for tax believed to be due from "so called" Tax Avoidance / DR Schemes'.

LONG OVERDUE!

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

Simon Owen

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Revenue and Customs's handling of my FOI request 'How many Employers have been pursued fully and to every extent for tax believed to be due from "so called" Tax Avoidance / DR Schemes'.

I see have had no response so please can I request an internal review.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

Simon Owen