Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Assuming the 2019 loan charge legislation gets passed by Parliament, it will introduce a charge to income tax and NICs on any disguised remuneration loans which are outstanding on 5/4/19. The charge will fall in the 2018/19 tax year. Taxpayers will not be liable to the charge if they repay the loans or settle before 5/4/19. That all seems fairly clear.

However, what is far from clear are what terms will be offered to taxpayers who do volunteer to settle before 5/4/19. In particular:

(1) will late payment interest be charged?
(2) will NICs be payable as well as tax?
(3) will the chargeable amount be grossed up to include scheme promoters' fees? [For example, if a taxpayer had received a loan of £9,000 but the promoter had already deducted a 10% fee, would the taxpayer be assessed on an income of £10,000?]
(4) how will "closed" tax years be treated? [By closed, I mean years where HMRC have not previously opened an enquiry or raised an assessment, and the time limits for doing so have expired.]

Does HMRC hold any information which would answer these questions?

Yours faithfully,

Martin James