Andrew Park comments on HMRC arresting eight over fake R&D claims, in Law360

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Tax Investigations Partner, Andrew Park, comments on the arrests of eight individuals by HMRC for allegedly setting up fake claims under the Research and Development Tax Credits scheme, in Law360.

Andrew’s comments were published Law360, 31 October 2022, and can be found here.

“These arrests show that intensive work by HMRC Fraud Investigation Service to address the most egregious R&D fraud appears to be paying dividends. HMRC FIS only has limited resources to prosecute the worst minority of wrongdoers and it is important for them to maximise the deterrent factor by bringing successful and high profile prosecutions.

“Unfortunately, the R&D claims system has become a gravy train for a minority of rogue advisers – some of them making unfounded or inflated claims on an almost industrial scale. Unregulated cowboy advisers have tended to operate on a commission basis, which has encouraged many of them to push the envelope as far as possible with claim sizes in order to maximise their income.”

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