Legislation to allow HMRC to publish the details of deliberate tax defaulters was introduced in Finance Act 2009. The first list of deliberate tax defaulters was published on 21 February last.

The UK legislation is quite close to the Irish legislation which has been in place for many years. As they explain, it permits HMRC to name deliberate defaulters where during an investigation into a period starting on or after 1 April 2010:

• it is established that the taxpayer is liable to a penalty for a deliberate default, and
• as a result of the deliberate default, more than £25,000 of additional tax would have been lost without HMRC's intervention, and
• the taxpayer has failed to make a full disclosure to HMRC at the outset, so failing to receive the maximum possible reduction in penalties for full and early disclosure and assistance.

Clearly the hope is that this type of publication will “deter UK taxpayers from deliberately defaulting on their tax obligations. It also encourages the non-compliant to make a full disclosure at the outset of an investigation as doing so means their details will not be published”. However, there is some academic evidence to suggest that this form of publication can in fact be counter-productive as a deterrent, as it establishes non-compliance behaviour as a normal occurrence within society.

Times change! Back in 2002, the then Paymaster General Ms Dawn Primarolo was asked to consider naming and shaming provisions by the House of Commons Treasury Committee. She was by her own admission “a little bit worried by the idea” because it could become “a bit of a badge of honour”.