Launched on 7 October 2013, The Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan was designed as a voluntary disclosure opportunity to allow health and wellbeing professionals with income or gains not yet disclosed to HMRC to make a full disclosure by 6 April 2014 to bring their tax affairs up to date.
HMRC provided ample literature regarding their Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan ahead of its launch and during the period in which health and wellbeing professionals could benefit from it. It was made clear that should you have undisclosed income or gains, and you choose not to take part in the voluntary disclosure opportunity, if HMRC later find out about your undisclosed income or gains any penalty you receive would be significantly higher.
Non-Disclosure Investigation
True to their word, HMRC have since launched a dedicated task force to review the tax affairs of those individuals who didn’t come forward, in an effort to identify the health and wellbeing professionals who they believe should have taken part in the Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan.
Using information already in their possession, as well as by exercising their powers to request further information from payments made and received by these individuals, HMRC have begun contacting professionals in the health and wellbeing sector in order to carry out compliance checks and undergo formal enquiries into their tax affairs.
Steeper Penalties
Needless to say, if HMRC discover income or gains that haven’t been disclosed by a company or individual, significantly steeper penalties will be due; potentially up to one-hundred percent of the unpaid liabilities.
The same is true if you took advantage of the Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan but, in pursuing your case further, HMRC discovered that you failed to disclose all income and gains.
If they believe a serious breach of the law has taken place (such as them believing you purposely lied or acted dishonestly in making your disclosure) they may choose to launch a criminal investigation into the matter.
For this reason, if you missed the disclosure opportunity deadline (regardless of the reason) you must speak with your accountant immediately in order to get your accounts together to allow you to make an unprompted disclosure to HMRC as soon as possible. Though you won’t receive the same penalty discounts received by those who took part in the disclosure opportunity, HMRC always view an unprompted disclosure favourably.
Penalties, of course, vary depending on how much was left undisclosed, and for how long, but for a general idea on the likely penalties with regard to the Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan, both for those who reached and missed the deadline, HMRC have pieced together a number of tables.
Experienced Accountants to Help with The Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan
To speak with a professional to discuss how you should go about disclosing any income and gains to HMRC, contact us today on 020 7129 1199 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no-obligation meeting.
This blog is a general summary. It should not replace professional advice tailored to your specific circumstance.