The Week Unzipped: 'Name and shame' plan to embarrass tax dodgers into paying their dues

FROM April HM Revenue & Customs is to name and shame tax dodgers. The new legislation means HMRC can publish the names, addresses and details of individuals and companies who deliberately evade taxes.

The Treasury announced the new policy, modelled on an existing regime in Ireland, in last year's budget but did not set a date for the legislation to come into force. The new approach will apply to tax dodging committed after 1 April this year and it is expected that the revenue will begin releasing details of offenders next year.

As well as the damage to their reputation by being publicly identified, those caught evading more than 25,000 of tax must pay the balance plus interest, and may incur penalties of up to 100 per cent of the bill.

Stephen Camm, tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, likened the approach to "Asbos for tax evaders". He said: "It may seem insensitive to 'name and shame', but it will have a bigger impact for some than a straight-forward financial penalty, demolishing the faade of respectability they would have previously maintained."

Steady on rates

THE Bank of England has held the base rate at 0.5 per cent for the 12th consecutive month.

The Monetary Policy Committee also voted not to increase the quantitative easing programme.

Economists anticipated rates remaining at the record low since any rise in the cost of borrowing could slow the recovery. Last month the bank halted the quantitative easing programme after spending 200billion.

The UK economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the final three months of 2009, while the latest inflation figures showed prices rising by 3.5 per cent in January, the fastest growth in 14 months.

Pension pain

ABOUT 110,000 women may lose out on 10,000 because they were born just too early to benefit from reforms to state pensions, according to research from the Liberal Democrats.

Changes from April, mean men and women must make 30 years of National Insurance payments to qualify for the full state pension.

A woman who has paid National Insurance for 30 years and whose 60th birthday falls on 6 April will be entitled to a full state pension. A woman who has worked just as long but was born a day earlier will only receive three-quarters of this. Women retiring before the 6 April cut off this year could miss out on as much as 10,400 over the next ten years.

Loan application

THE social networking site Facebook has launched an application allowing friends to send small payments to each other directly.

Users can transfer up to ?50 (45) via the Buxter, which is run by online payment service ClickandBuy. Transactions are free to make and receive but the application charges a 1.9 per cent fee to move the money to another source such as a bank account.

Buxter currently allows transactions in euro or US dollars with plans to open the application to sterling next month.

Christian von Hammel-Bonten, senior vice-president at ClickandBuy, said: "People share their statuses, their information and their pictures on Facebook so the question is why not share money there too?"

Get into a new fix

THE battle of this year's Isa investments is hotting up with Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks introducing two new fixed rate Isas paying 3 per cent for one year and 5 per cent for five years. The accounts require a minimum opening balance on 2,000 and allow transfers in.

Leeds Building Society has launched a five-year fixed-rate Isa paying 4.6 per cent with unlimited access to 25 per cent of funds. The account can be opened with 1 and allows transfers in from previous Isa subscriptions.

On the mortgage front, the Co-operative has added a two-year fixed-rate mortgage starting at 3.19 per cent with a 25 per cent deposit to its product range. The mortgage also comes with a 15 per cent deposit option charging 4.49 per cent. The mortgage will be available through the Co-operative Bank and Britannia and charges a 999 fee.

Elsewhere Santander has cut the rates on its 80 per cent loan-to-value mortgages by 0.74 per cent. The revised range, aimed at borrowers with a 20 per cent deposit, includes a two-year tracker at 3.25 per cent with a 995 fee and a two-year fix at 4.95 per cent with a 995 fee.