Umbrella Companies and HMRC

Source: WhatDoTheyKnow
Authority: HM Revenue and Customs
Status: HM Revenue and Customs did not have the information requested.
Imported path: /opt/loancharge/imports/wdtk/requests/umbrella_companies_and_hmrc
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SOURCE: WhatDoTheyKnow
SOURCE_URL: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/umbrella_companies_and_hmrc
TITLE: Umbrella Companies and HMRC
AUTHORITY: HM Revenue and Customs
AUTHORITY_URL: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/hmrc
STATUS: HM Revenue and Customs
did not have
the information requested.
REQUEST_SLUG: umbrella_companies_and_hmrc
CAPTURED_AT: 2026-05-19T07:17:57+00:00
PROVENANCE: {"first_seen_at": "2026-05-18T13:00:07", "first_seen_page": "3", "first_query_term": "\"disguised remuneration\"", "first_date_after": "2021/01/01", "first_date_before": "2022/01/01", "matched_query_terms": "\"disguised remuneration\"", "matched_date_ranges": "2021/01/01 to 2022/01/01", "first_search_url_template": "https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/search/%22disguised%20remuneration%22/requests?commit=Filter&query=%22disguised+remuneration%22&request_date_after=2021%2F01%2F01&request_date_before=2022%2F01%2F01&request_variety%5B%5D=sent&request_variety%5B%5D=response&request_variety%5B%5D=comment&sortby=&utf8=%E2%9C%93&page="}

ATTACHMENTS:
- 20210210_FOI2021_00885.pdf | https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/umbrella_companies_and_hmrc/response/1737682/attach/3/20210210%20FOI2021%2000885.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1 | application/pdf | 128348 bytes
- [not downloaded] | https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/umbrella_companies_and_hmrc/response/1737682/attach/html/3/20210210%20FOI2021%2000885.pdf.html |  | 0 bytes

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MESSAGE 1 [outgoing]
HEADER: Trew Ray
3 February 2021
Delivered
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear HM Revenue and Customs,
Not mentioning specific cases but just numbers associated to each question as known by HMRC to this date.
The following relates to disguised employees / disguised remuneration / tax avoidance sphere.
The following questions cover the period of 2000 to present.
How many Umbrella Companies have been reported to HMRC?
How many investigations have been carried out by HMRC into Umbrella Companies?
Has HMRC any statistics or carried out any reviews into how much tax avoidance "relates to / is contributed by" Umbrella Companies?
Is there a recognised regulatory body that HMRC approves of for use of Umbrella Companies?
Yours faithfully,
Trew Ray

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MESSAGE 2 [incoming]
HEADER: FOI Team,
        HM Revenue and Customs
4 February 2021
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our ref: FOI2021/00885
Dear Mr Ray,
Freedom of Information Act 2000 Acknowledgement
Thank you for your communication of 3rd February which has been passed to
HMRC's Freedom of Information Team.
We have allocated the above reference which you should quote if you need
to contact us.
The Team will arrange for a reply to be sent to you which will either
comply with HMRC's obligations under Freedom of Information Act or, if we
think it's an enquiry that we don't need to address under the terms of the
Act, let you know why. If it is the latter we will, if possible, pass it
on to a more appropriate part of the Department for answer.
As you will appreciate, the coronavirus pandemic has provided
unprecedented challenges for Government Departments including HMRC. Over
the coming weeks our priorities are to provide critical existing and new
Public Services for Government to support customers during this difficult
time. As a result, resources may be diverted away from usual compliance or
information rights work. HMRC aims to respond to all FOIA Requests within
20 working days. If for whatever reason this timescale cannot be complied
with HMRC will, where possible, write to you explaining the reason for the
delay and providing an estimated time for response.
Yours sincerely
HMRC Freedom of Information Act Team

================================================================================
MESSAGE 3 [incoming]
HEADER: FOI Central Team,
        HM Revenue and Customs
3 March 2021
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Attachment
20210210 FOI2021 00885.pdf
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Dear Ray
We are writing in response to your request for information, received 3
February 2021.
Yours sincerely,
HMRC Freedom of Information Team

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ATTACHMENT TEXT EXTRACTION / OCR
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ATTACHMENT: 20210210_FOI2021_00885.pdf
TEXT_FILE: 20210210_FOI2021_00885.pdf.txt
METHOD: pdf_native
OCR_USED: False
PAGES: 2
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--- PDF page 1 ---
Information is available in large print, audio and Braille formats. 
Text Relay service prefix number – 18001 
 
OFFICIAL 
 
Freedom of Information Team 
S1715 
6 Floor 
Central Mail Unit 
Newcastle Upon Tyne 
NE98 1ZZ 
Mr Trew Ray 
By email: 
request-723871-7bc82bc6@whatdotheyknow.com 
 
Email 
foi.request@hmrc.gov.uk 
Web 
www.gov.uk 
Date: 3 March 2021 
 
Our ref: 
FOI2021/00885 
 
 
Dear Mr Ray 
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) 
 
Thank you for your request, which was received on 3 February, for the following information: 
 
“Not mentioning specific cases but just numbers associated to each question as known by 
HMRC to this date. 
The following relates to disguised employees / disguised remuneration / tax avoidance 
sphere. 
The following questions cover the period of 2000 to present. 
1. How many Umbrella Companies have been reported to HMRC? 
2. How many investigations have been carried out by HMRC into Umbrella Companies? 
3. Has HMRC any statistics or carried out any reviews into how much tax avoidance "relates 
to / is contributed by" Umbrella Companies? 
4. Is there a recognised regulatory body that HMRC approves of for use of Umbrella 
Companies?” 
 
We have interpreted your request as seeking information about disguised remuneration tax 
avoidance schemes. We have numbered your questions for ease of reference. 
 
We can confirm we hold some of the information you seek. However, providing it would 
exceed the FOIA cost limit, which for central government equates to one person spending 
3½ working days locating and extracting all of the information requested. We have therefore 
refused your request under section 12(1) of the FOIA. 
 
For question 1, we have interpreted this as asking about the number of cases submitted to 
us through the Fraud Hotline and the online fraud reporting form, the routes through which 
we receive reports of potential avoidance activity. We use the information we receive to 
create reports that are passed to relevant teams for appropriate action. We do not 
categorise these reports in a way that allows us to identify those relating to umbrella 
companies. The only way to determine this would be to review each one to see if any of the 
narrative makes reference to an umbrella company. We receive thousands of referrals each 
year so analysing this information would far exceed the FOIA cost limit.

--- PDF page 2 ---
2 
OFFICIAL 
Normally we would explore with you how you might be able to refine your request so that it 
did not exceed the FOIA cost limit. However, in this case, we cannot see any scope for 
doing this, as a narrowed time period would still not allow us to extract the data within the 
appropriate limit. 
 
Further, for question 2, investigations involving umbrella companies could be carried out by 
a range of teams across the department. Our compliance data does not routinely contain the 
term ‘umbrella company’ as an identifier. For this reason, manual searches of different case 
management systems would be required to establish the information requested. This task 
would also exceed the FOIA cost limit. 
 
For question 3, we do not hold the information requested. We have not estimated the total 
level of tax avoidance involving umbrella companies. And for question 4, we do not provide 
any such approvals. 
 
If you are not satisfied with this reply you may request a review within two months by 
emailing foi.review@hmrc.gov.uk, or by writing to the address at the top right-hand side of 
this letter. 
 
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review you can complain to the 
Information Commissioner’s Office. 
 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
HM Revenue and Customs
Loan Charge FOI

Umbrella Companies and HMRC

Imported text

Loan Charge FOI
