The government has been urged to give HMRC the power to disapply tax charges in cases where losses were due to dishonesty by a third party, as the Enough is Enough campaign took to the streets of London to raise awareness for victims of financial misconduct.

The Enough is Enough campaign, which is calling for justice for victims of financial misconduct, held a march though London earlier this week (17 April) to raise awareness of its key demands.

Speaking at a stop during the March, Pension Scams Industry Group (PSIG) chair, Margaret Snowdon, highlighted particular concerns over the fair tax treatment of victims of financial misconduct, which is one of the key demands of the campaign.

She stated: "Ordinary people don’t understand complex pension rules and they certainly don’t associate pensions with tax, let alone tax avoidance.
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“Nonetheless, HMRC treats them all as if they were guilty of cheating the tax man. Therefore on top of losing most of their savings, HMRC has pursued them for tax charges for over a decade; and has pursued them in an unnecessarily aggressive way.

“Now to be fair to HMRC, their job is to collect tax that is due. They say they have no choice, but it is never reasonable to bully and frighten people and treat them criminals without any evidence. It’s a case of when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

“For the last 5 years I have been asking parliament to change the law to fit the new world where fraudsters prey on innocent people then walk away without consequences, leaving ordinary people like nurses, machinists and fire fighters to face the music alone."

Industry experts have previously raised concerns over HMRC’s application of rules in pursuing tax charges from members affected by pension liberation scams, with the Work and Pensions Committee recently told that HMRC's approach has been “inconsistent and quite unfair”.

However, Snowdon stressed that this isn’t an issue limited to pension scam and pension savers, as “the same impact and systemic injustice is being experienced by many different victims in all kinds of financial schemes”.

“Happening in one sector is a problem – happening in several means something is fundamentally broken,” she said.

Given this, Snowdon argued that the law needs to change to give HMRC the power to disapply tax charges in cases where losses were due to dishonesty by a third party.

She also revealed that PSIG are launching a national petition to demand change, as well as a “major campaign” for a statutory inquiry into these matters.

“This could happen to any of us – we all need to be safe from scammers, and we all need to be fairly treated by those in authority," she added. "So let’s all stand together for security and fairness."

Commenting in response to the concerns raised around the tax treatment of scam victims, a HMRC spokesperson said: “We sympathise with people who may have lost money by entering such arrangements and handle these situations on a case-by-case basis.

“We recognise that dealing with large tax liabilities can lead to pressure on individuals and we are committed to identifying and supporting anyone who needs extra help.

“We have a legal duty to collect tax whenever it’s due but our message to anyone who is worried about paying what they owe is: please contact us as soon as possible to talk about your options.”

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