Wera Backs Action Against the 2019 Loan Charge

29 May 2018

Wera Hobhouse is calling for an end to the Government’s draconian enforcement of a new 2019 Loan Charge, which would mean that if you have been paid through loans since 1999, HMRC will be able to fine you thousands of pounds.

This fine will particularly affect contractors, freelancers and agency workers.

The hard-working people affected have completed their tax returns, paid their dues and fully disclosed their financial affairs to HMRC, with many even receiving tax rebates! Wera and the Supreme Court agree that HMRC does not have the legal authority to retrospectively collect these fines, particularly given their enormous size (for example if you earned £50,000 for the last 20 years you would be fined over £360,899!)

In March 2011, the Government first published a policy saying that only in exceptional circumstances could tax law changes apply retrospectively. This is clearly not the term to use for tax returns made in plain view, for 20 years, by many thousands of people, under the Government’s watchful eye.

Wera agrees that if necessary the case should be referred to the European Court of Human Rights, to ensure the public’s finances are fully protected from retrospective taxation. Furthermore, Wera wants to make sure that hard-working British individuals should not be made to shoulder this cost rather than the companies who made the decision use this payment method.

Wera has begun her resistance to the Government’s proposals by firmly backing EDM 1239 in Parliament and wants to stress the importance of this issue - not only to the families and lives which would be devastated by these fines, but to anybody who fears how this retrospective tax grab “quick fix” could set a dangerous precedent for all taxpayers in the years to come.