HMRC has won a second judgement against people who used a vaccine research scheme to avoid income tax.
It said that only £14 million of the £114 million claimed as research spending by the promoters had actually been spent. The scheme borrowed £86 million from RBS which was 80% of the amount ‘invested’ on which tax relief was claimed.
HMRC is on the warpath against a series of schemes that employed high borrowings to enable people to claim large amounts of tax relief. Experts suggest that anyone who has used such a scheme makes provision now for the tax they will have to repay – because once HMRC wins a case, it moves quickly and aggressively to demand the tax due.