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'My world fell apart': Rise in suicide attempts linked to HMRC tax crackdown
Four more people have attempted to take their own life in relation to the loan charge scandal, which has left tens of thousands of contractors facing huge bills for tax their employers should have paid, Sky News has learnt.
HMRC has made 17 referrals to the police watchdog (Independent Office for Police Conduct) over the suicide attempts of 14 people, up from the 13 referrals of 10 people previously known about in October 2023. The figures, revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request by Sky News, come on top of the 10 known suicides of people caught up in the controversial tax crackdown, which has alarmed MPs across the political spectrum.
The loan charge was announced in George Osborne's 2016 budget and made freelancers liable for years of retrospective income and national insurance tax after being paid their salaries in loans. HMRC has been accused of harassing ordinary people who were victims of mis-selling, as the arrangement was widely promoted by lawyers, accountants and tax professionals in the 2000s and 2010s.
Labour has launched an independent review into the policy but campaigners have branded it a "sham" and "cover-up" as it doesn't look at the principle of the loan charge, only ways to make people settle. 'Trapped in an endless nightmare' Father-of-three Ray Newton is one thousands of people who paid an umbrella company to manage his fees while working as an IT contractor for Barclays Bank from 2009-2010.
They paid him in tax-free loans on the assurance it was "completely above board.
Amir Nisi
Creative and experienced content writer with 6+ years of experience lazy to create unique content strategy for News5 to turn website visitors into customers.
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