HMRC Issues Landmark Tax Avoidance Stop Notices to Former Solicitor Paul Baxendale-Walker
HM Revenue & Customs has, for the first time, issued formal tax avoidance Stop Notices to an individual—specifically, Paul Baxendale-Walker, a former barrister and struck-off solicitor. The notices, a significant legal development in HMRC’s anti-tax avoidance measures, direct him to cease promoting two schemes identified by the tax authority as abusive and artificial in nature.
Baxendale-Walker, once a qualified legal practitioner but disbarred and struck off following previous misconduct, has been linked to various tax avoidance arrangements over the years. According to HMRC, the two schemes in question involve the use of offshore trusts and opaque financial structures designed to allow individuals to access their money while circumventing standard tax obligations.
These Stop Notices mark a pivotal shift in the government’s approach—having typically been applied to corporate entities, HMRC is now using this enforcement tool against individuals deemed responsible for peddling avoidance schemes. The two specific arrangements promoted by Baxendale-Walker have been added to HMRC’s published list of disallowed schemes.
Jonathan Smith, Director of Counter Avoidance at HMRC, said: “The courts have already concluded that Mr Baxendale-Walker designed and sold multiple tax avoidance schemes that don’t work as claimed. These Stop Notices send a clear message: we will use every tool at our disposal to protect public finances from tax avoidance.”
Tax avoidance Stop Notices are legal instruments introduced as part of the Finance Act 2014, enabling HMRC to direct individuals and businesses to immediately halt the marketing or facilitation of specified tax avoidance schemes deemed non-compliant. Ignoring such a notice can result in substantial financial penalties and may lead to criminal charges. The government has placed greater emphasis on shutting down marketed tax avoidance as part of its wider initiative to reduce the UK’s tax gap, which HMRC estimates stood at £36 billion in 2021–22, or roughly 4.8% of total theoretical tax liabilities (source: HMRC Measuring Tax Gaps report).
Baxendale-Walker is no stranger to public scrutiny. His name has surfaced on multiple occasions in relation to failed or challenged tax planning products. According to previous reports, schemes bearing his name have been featured on HMRC’s list of discredited avoidance arrangements, and courts have found them to lack a genuine commercial purpose beyond tax mitigation (see tax avoidance schemes ruling involving Baxendale-Walker on The Guardian).
Following the issuance of the notices, HMRC has requested that anyone aware of continued promotion of these schemes—either directly or indirectly by Baxendale-Walker—report this activity through its online whistleblowing portal. Likewise, individuals who suspect they may have unknowingly participated in one of the flagged schemes are advised to contact HMRC immediately. HMRC offers support services for those seeking to exit tax avoidance arrangements and can be reached at CAGetHelpOutOfTaxAvoidance@hmrc.gov.uk.
This enforcement action is the latest in a series of steps taken by HMRC to clamp down on aggressive tax planning and demonstrates that individual promoters, as well as corporate entities, are now firmly within the scope of the UK’s strengthened anti-avoidance regime.
More information on Stop Notices and current tax avoidance arrangements under scrutiny can be found on HMRC’s official site: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-avoidance-schemes-getting-out-and-reporting-a-scheme.
