GDPR tax relief!
HMRC is aware of tax agents that target businesses to claim Corporation Tax refunds through incorrect provisions, linked to potential GDPR fines or civil claims.
These claims are not in accordance with the law and HMRC will challenge anyone:
- making such claims
- who encourages or facilitates businesses to make false claims that reduce tax liability or seek a repayment
How’s that supposed to work?
Businesses being approached by a tax agent offering advice on how to reduce their Corporation Tax liability by:
- claiming a deduction for a GDPR provision in the company’s tax return
- amending a previous tax return
They may offer some of the following:
- inform you of the risk level for non-compliance of the GDPR rules
- suggest a monetary amount to be set aside as a provision for a potential breach of the GDPR rules
- ask to include this provision in accounts for the latest tax return, to reduce the tax
- amend previous year’s tax return to include the provision, with the aim of reducing profits and generating a tax refund
Some agents may:
- charge you a fee, sometimes exceeding 30% of any tax saving or repayment you receive
- disappear before HMRC make any enquiries about the information submitted
Some agents may try to link the incorrect claims involving GDPR to the process for claiming Research & Development (R&D) tax credits, in order to falsely inflate the size of the R&D credit.
If this happens, the GDPR element will be incorrect.
HMRC can review the tax return after making the submission and could seek to claim all the tax back, along with interest and possible penalties.
Report tax fraud and tax avoidance
You can report tax fraud and tax avoidance arrangements, schemes and the person offering you them to HMRC by using our online form to report tax fraud.
You can submit this form anonymously and do not have to give your name, address or your email.
You can phone HMRC to report tax fraud if you cannot use the online form.
PAYadvice.UK 10/11/2024