HMRC tax crackdown on 60,000 workers linked to ten suicides will be 'probed'

A bungled HMRC tax crackdown on 60,000 workers has been linked to ten SUICIDES. Now, it will be probed after Chancellor Rachel Reeves set aside powers and cash to get to the bottom of the scandal, as she delivered her first Budget as Labour Party Chancellor.

Ms Reeves has ordered an inquiry to be held into HMRC's Loan Charge scandal. The announcement of a new review came quietly in the post-Budget document, with documents released yesterday in the wake of Ms Reeves' address to the Commons.

The scandal relates to tens of thousands of freelancers and agency workers who were paid their salaries in tax-free loans. This was widely promoted as HMRC compliant by lawyers and tax advisers in the 1990s and early 2000s, but that was not the case.

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It led to the tax office retrospectively pursuing workers for bills they could not afford, years after their involvement in the schemes. While some of those who engaged in loan schemes did so with the explicit intent to minimise their tax bills, many were simply trying to do the right thing.

In many cases, individuals were advised by their recruitment agencies to sign up to the umbrella companies, helping them to avoid the complicated process of setting up a limited company. The Budget documents said: “The government will commission an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.”

The Loan Charge Action Group said it was a “momentous” day but that there was “still a way to go before justice is finally achieved for victims”. Elsewhere, Ms Reeves announced the government is setting aside more than £13 billion to pay compensation to the victims of the infected blood and Horizon scandals.

Ms Reeves promised to set aside £11.8bn for the victims of the infected blood scandal with £1.8bn for the subpostmasters who were wrongly convicted by the Post Office.