26 October 2021
Directors personally liable for company debts to HMRC
Schedule 13 to Finance Act 2020 enables HMRC to issue a notice to a company in liquidation (or in danger of) so that if the company does not pay taxes due the liability can be imposed on the Directors (including shadow directors).
There are of course conditions to be satisfied and mainly we should be concerned with tax-evasive conduct which is defined as giving to HMRC any deliberately inaccurate return, claim, document or information, or deliberately failing to comply with an obligation to notify liability to tax, etc...
The regulations also apply where the Directors have been involved in repeated insolvencies (phoenixism).
As HMRC have issued guidance on this legislation in October 2021 perhaps this is indicative they intend to apply the legislation.
