Permanent secretary for tax Dave Hartnett has suggested that gas fitters could be the next professional group to be offered a disclosure opportunity.
Following tax amnesties for offshore account holders and healthcare professionals, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) may offer a new disclosure opportunity for heating engineers and gas fitters to declare tax irregularities.

Under the new Tax Health Plan, doctors are encouraged to come forward and declare past tax irregularities, which would be subject to a guaranteed penalty of 10%, rather than the maximum 100% which could be imposed if they were to be investigated by HMRC. It is thought that gas fitters could be offered a similar scheme.

'If this is the case, it is expected gas fitters will be allowed a period of time to register and then disclose any tax irregularities, which would be subject to a lesser penalty than the maximum 100% penalty which is the norm. This is part of HMRC's clamp down on unpaid taxes, where it has been executing its rights under 'powers of information' to obtain details from a variety of sources to check on earnings and run comparisons against tax declarations for various professional and industry sectors', said Iain Macleod, tax specialist from tax advisory firm, EDF Tax.