Taxman wins £500m from members of avoidance plan

Judges decided unanimously that HMRC could force 200 people to pay tax bills while their avoidance scheme was being investigated, the Times reports. In a test case, a member of a scheme argued that he did not have to pay his tax bill for 2007-08 because he was claiming more in tax relief for 2008-09, but the judges said that HMRC did not have to award any tax relief while it made its inquiries. HMRC will now be able to claw back £60m in tax from the scheme. Members of similar schemes will be forced to pay a further £440m, HMRC said. "HMRC is relentless in pursuing taxpayers who partic...