One aspect of the Spring Statement which has been overlooked is the Chancellor’s attempt to collect in more tax debt. There is around £44 bn of tax debt with just under half of this over 12 months old.

The Chancellor announced that HMRC will recruit 500 more compliance staff to assist with the debt collection in addition to the extra 5,000 announced in the Budget. HMRC will move to a more automated debt recovery process.

The Government is planning to tackle “phoenixism” to address those who use contrived insolvencies to write off or evade tax debts. The measures include increasing the use of upfront payments, making directors personally liable for company taxes and increasing the number of enforcement sanctions.

“It is really important that when directors engage with IPs, the IP discusses all of the potential risks that any potential insolvency may have.”