No penalties for 'innocent' tax errors, HMRC boss says

There are nary penalties for "innocent" taxation errors, the brag of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has told MPs.

Appearing earlier a Commons committee, Jim Harra was pressed connected issues astir the taxation affairs of Nadhim Zahawi.

The Conservative Party president is facing calls to resign, aft it emerged helium paid a punishment to HMRC.

Mr Harra stressed helium could not remark connected idiosyncratic cases but said penalties were not applied erstwhile idiosyncratic had taken "reasonable care".

Mr Zahawi has said HMRC accepted the mistake implicit antecedently unpaid taxation was "careless and not deliberate". He has besides insisted helium has "acted decently throughout".

The HMRC main enforcement was owed to beryllium giving grounds to the Public Accounts Committee astir managing taxation compliance pursuing the pandemic.

However, helium besides faced questions related to the taxation arrangements of Mr Zahawi, who has travel nether increasing unit successful caller weeks.

Whilst helium would not remark connected circumstantial individuals, Mr Harra said: "There are nary penalties for guiltless errors successful your taxation affairs. So if you instrumentality tenable care, but nevertheless marque a mistake, whilst you volition beryllium liable for the taxation and for involvement if it's paid late, you would not beryllium liable for a penalty.

"But if your mistake was arsenic a effect of carelessness, past authorities says that a punishment could use successful those circumstances."

The BBC understands Mr Zahawi resolved a multi-million lb quality with HMRC past year, erstwhile helium was chancellor.

According to the Guardian, helium paid the taxation helium had owed, arsenic good arsenic a 30% penalty, with the full colony amounting to £4.8m.

The taxation was related to a shareholding successful YouGov, the polling institution helium co-founded successful 2000 earlier helium became an MP.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asked his autarkic morals adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, to look into whether Mr Zahawi broke ministerial rules implicit the issue.

Downing Street said it wanted the probe to beryllium completed "as rapidly arsenic possible" but that the timeline was a substance for the autarkic adviser.

Mr Harra said that if HMRC was asked by Sir Laurie to assistance with the enquiry "we volition bash truthful successful immoderate mode we perchance can".

However, helium said it would not usually publically remark connected someone's taxation affairs, adjacent if the idiosyncratic had fixed their consent.