More than 100 penalties issued to SAOs in 2016-17

The number of personal penalties levied by HMRC against corporate senior accounting officers (SAOs) edged down last year with 115 issued in 2016-17 according to figures obtained by Pinsent Masons.

The decrease masks an overall 150% increase in the past five years. The number of penalties issued under the SAO regime in 2015-16 was 181 and in 2014-15 it was 151.

Last year the number of individuals fined was highest in the financial services and retail sectors with 16 individual penalties issued in each. The biggest increase was in energy which faced 14 fines compared with nine the previous year.

The figures showed HMRC was taking an aggressive approach to enforcement said Pinsent Masons partner Jason Collins. ‘Given the scale and complexity of the money flows in large businesses simple errors in the finance department can result in misreporting and subsequent fines ’ he...