Judicial review launched against the loan charge

A pressure group plans to launch a judicial review against HMRC’s loan charge which comes into effect next April.

The Loan Charge Action Group (LCAG) has appointed tax barrister Robert Venables QC to mount a challenge on the basis that the schemes subject to the charge were mis-sold to them by employers and accountants. It will argue that the outstanding tax should be paid by employers rather than those working for them and that the charge is an unfair retrospective tax.

Andrew Hubbard said the main problem with the legal challenge was timing. ‘There is no hope of it being completed before the payment date for the loan charge has been and gone so even if it were successful the best that could be hoped for would be for people to get their money back. Legal challenges against avoidance legislation are notoriously hard to bring off...