About 50,000 plumbers, gas fitters and heating engineers will receive letters from HMRC this month alerting them of the chance to take advantage of what HMRC refers to as a “special time-limited tax plan” to put right tax irregularities.

The initiative enables plumbers, gas fitters, heating engineers and members of associated trades who owe tax not yet declared to come forward up to 31 May to notify HMRC they want to take part in this disclosure opportunity. If a full disclosure is made, most face a low penalty rate of between 10% and 20%. Note however that a 100% penalty may still arise in cases where concealment has been undertaken to hide the extent of the undeclared tax.

Once HMRC have been notified of the intention to make a disclosure, these individuals then have until 31 August to make a full disclosure and arrange for payment.

For full details see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/trades-disclosure/index.htm.