Guidance: Compliance checks: publishing details of deliberate defaulters — CC/FS13

This factsheet tells you about when we may publish details of people who deliberately get their tax affairs wrong.

This factsheet is one of a series. For the full list of factsheets in our compliance checks series, go to GOV.UK and search ‘Compliance checks factsheets’.

If you have any health or personal circumstances that may make it difficult for you to deal with us, please tell the officer who contacted you. They’ll work with you to put in place any reasonable or supportive adjustments. You can also go to GOV.UK and search ‘get help from HMRC’.

Although most people try to pay the right amount of tax, some people deliberately get their tax affairs wrong. We call these people ‘deliberate defaulters’.

In certain circumstances, we can publish details about a person, a company or other kind of organisation that is a deliberate defaulter.

Why we publish details of deliberate defaulters

We realise that publishing details is a very serious matter. We want to make sure we only do it when it’s right to do so. However, we also take it very seriously when people deliberately get their tax affairs wrong.

We believe the possibility of having their details published will:

By coming forward, deliberate defaulters may be able to avoid having their details published. There is more information about this later in this factsheet.

The legislation that allows us to publish details of deliberate defaulters is Section 94 of the Finance Act 2009.

What happens when we carry out an investigation

An investigation includes any type of check into a person’s tax affairs by an officer of HMRC. In this factsheet, we use the term ‘compliance check’ to describe an investigation.

We carry out compliance checks to make sure our customers pay the right amount of tax at the right time and receive the right allowances and tax reliefs.