Dave Hartnett

Last updated

Dave Hartnett
Born
David Anthony Hartnett

(1951-02-25) 25 February 1951 (age 73)
NationalityBritish
Alma mater Birmingham University
Occupation(s)Consultant, deloitte
Known forFormer CEO, HM Revenue and Customs
SpouseAileen Patricia Mary O'Dempsey
Children3

David Anthony Hartnett CB (born 25 February 1951) is a former British civil servant who served as the Permanent Secretary for Tax at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) until his retirement in July 2012. Following his retirement he advised HSBC on financial crime governance alongside former Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Bill Hughes. [1]

Contents

Early life

Hartnett studied Classics at the University of Birmingham, graduating in 1973. [2]

Career

Hartnett joined the then Inland Revenue in 1976. As a graduate tax inspector, he spent his first 10 years in Birmingham. [2] He advanced to the position of Director of Capital and Savings in 1998. [3] Following the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise in 2004, he became HMRC's Director General for Customer Contact and Compliance Strategy and then Director General for Business. [3]

He was one of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Revenue and Customs, the formal governing board of HMRC, from the board's creation in 2005 until his retirement, [4] having previously been a board member of the Inland Revenue. [5] On the Board, he acted as Director General of Policy and Technical. [3]

When Paul Gray resigned as chairman following the loss of the Child Benefit database, Hartnett took over the post in an acting capacity. After permanent replacements were appointed, Mike Clasper as non-executive chairman and Lesley Strathie as Chief Executive, Hartnett was appointed to a new post of Second Permanent Secretary for Tax, with responsibility for tax professionalism. [3]

In May 2013, Hartnett became a consultant to the tax firm Deloitte. [6]

From 2014 to 2023, Hartnett was a member of the board of governors at St Mary's University. [7] For three months in 2020 he was the University's interim Vice-Chancellor.

Incorrect income tax collection

In September 2010, Hartnett was widely criticised for refusing to apologise for the HMRC issue which involved millions of people being required to pay due but uncollected tax. It was claimed that HMRC had failed to collect PAYE correctly. He told BBC Radio 4 "I'm not sure I need to apologise ...We didn't get it wrong." [8] He later issued an unreserved apology, though no PAYE error had been identified. [9]

Corporate tax avoidance

For a period after October 2010, protesters blockaded and protested outside Vodafone stores across the UK [10] following allegations of tax evasion of up to £6 billion, illustrated in a series of articles in Private Eye . [11] These articles alleged preferential treatment of Vodafone due to personal connections between Hartnett and John Connors, Vodafone's head of tax, a former colleague at HMRC.

In May 2011 Private Eye alleged Hartnett personally "shook hands" on a deal over a long-running tax avoidance dispute with Goldman Sachs dating back to 2002, without consulting HMRC lawyers, letting the US bank off around £10m in interest. [12] Complaints from HMRC informants that Hartnett personally intervened in settlement cases and agreed to "sweetheart deals" with no explanation or consultation with lawyers have also been published. [13] [ verification needed ] In October 2011, The Guardian published leaked papers regarding the deal. [14]

Hartnett was presented by activists from UK Uncut with a spoof "Golden Handshake award" at a dinner in New College, Oxford honouring his retirement in September 2012. Several activists had donned evening dress and name badges to indicate that they were from Vodafone and Goldman Sachs, and effused over Hartnett's help in saving those companies billions of pounds in taxes. Robert Venables QC, who was at the dinner, first told the intruders to "depart immediately, before we set the dogs on you", before finally ejecting them with the final words "You are trespassing scum. Go". [15] [16]

While HMRC boss, Hartnett negotiated a tax deal that granted HSBC's bankers virtually guaranteed immunity from prosecution for any crimes they might have committed relating to tax fraud in Switzerland. [17] Later in January 2013, he moved on to work at HSBC. [18] [19]

Corporate hospitality

Hartnett was named by City University London in July 2010 as the most "wined and dined" civil servant in Britain, having been treated to corporate hospitality 107 times over a period of three years. [20]

He stated that his approach to tax disputes with large corporations was "handling disputes in a non-confrontational way and collaborating with customers wherever possible". [21] Harnett claims that this approach secured larger settlements of tax collected faster and more cheaply than if HMRC had taken the taxpayers to court, but this is disputed by Private Eye, who cite particular deals made by Harnett including the arrangement with Vodafone that lost the exchequer approximately £6 billion. [22]

Honours

Hartnett was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2003 New Year Honours. [23]

Personal life

In 1977, Hartnett married Aileen Patricia Mary O'Dempsey; the couple have three children. [24] She works as a divorce lawyer, and they live in St Albans, Hertfordshire. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HSBC</span> British multinational bank group

HSBC Holdings plc is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business links to East Asia and a multinational footprint. It is the largest Europe-based bank by total assets, ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.919 trillion as of December 2023. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 trillion in assets under custody (AUC) and $4.9 trillion in assets under administration (AUA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldman Sachs</span> American investment bank

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many international financial centers. Goldman Sachs is the second largest investment bank in the world by revenue and is ranked 55th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. In Forbes Global 2000 2023, Goldman Sachs ranked 34th. It is considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board.

Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdictions that facilitate reduced taxes. Tax avoidance should not be confused with tax evasion, which is illegal. Both tax evasion and tax avoidance can be viewed as forms of tax noncompliance, as they describe a range of activities that intend to subvert a state's tax system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodafone</span> British multinational telecommunications company

Vodafone Group Plc is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HM Revenue and Customs</span> Non-ministerial department of the UK Government

His Majesty's Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of state support, the administration of other regulatory regimes including the national minimum wage and the issuance of national insurance numbers. HMRC was formed by the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, which took effect on 18 April 2005. The department's logo is the Tudor Crown enclosed within a circle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stamp duty in the United Kingdom</span> Tax charged on legal instruments

Stamp duty in the United Kingdom is a form of tax charged on legal instruments, and historically required a physical stamp to be attached to or impressed upon the document in question. The more modern versions of the tax no longer require a physical stamp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Cox (British politician)</span> British Conservative politician

Sir Charles Geoffrey Cox is a British Conservative Party politician and barrister who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torridge and West Devon from 2005 to 2024. Cox worked as a barrister from 1982 onwards and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2003, two years before his election to Parliament. He served as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland under Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020.

Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxpayer's tax liability, and it includes dishonest tax reporting, declaring less income, profits or gains than the amounts actually earned, overstating deductions, using bribes against authorities in countries with high corruption rates and hiding money in secret locations.

IR35 is the United Kingdom's anti-avoidance tax legislation, the intermediaries legislation contained in Chapter 8 of Income Tax Act 2003. The legislation is designed to tax 'disguised' employment at a rate similar to employment. In this context, "disguised employees" means workers who receive payments from a client via an intermediary, i.e. their own limited company, and whose relationship with their client is such that had they been paid directly they would be employees of the client.

William Frederick Hughes was Director General of Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency until his retirement on 31 August 2010, when he was succeeded by his deputy Trevor Pearce. He was formerly Director General of the National Crime Squad, until its merger with SOCA on 1 April 2006. Hughes was, until October 2012, International Director at BlueLight Global Solutions. He then took up a role advising HSBC on financial crime governance alongside former Permanent Secretary for Tax at HMRC, Dave Hartnett.

Sir Mark Edward Tucker is an English businessman, best known for his various roles at Prudential plc, where he was the CEO until September 2009. He currently serves as group chairman of HSBC Holdings plc.

Dame Lesley Ann Strathie, DCB was a British senior civil servant.

Richard Murphy is a former British chartered accountant and political economist who campaigns on issues of tax avoidance and tax evasion. He advises the Trades Union Congress on economics and taxation, and founded the Tax Justice Network. He is a Professor of Accounting Practice at University of Sheffield Management School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Uncut</span>

UK Uncut was a network of United Kingdom-based protest groups established in October 2010 to protest against cuts to public services and tax avoidance in the UK. Various sources have described the group as left-wing in its political orientation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Gulliver</span> British banker

Stuart Thomson Gulliver is a British banker, and the former group chief executive of HSBC. He was succeeded on 21 February 2018 by John Flint.

The Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) is an agreement between the governments of Liechtenstein and the United Kingdom which enables UK citizens to declare previously undisclosed assets to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The LDF, which came into force on 1 September 2009, is a subsidy designed to encourage individuals voluntarily to regularize their affairs. The scheme offers more favourable terms than other tax investigations, with participants normally receiving a fine of 10 per cent of tax due instead of 100 per cent, with tax interest and penalties only sought for the previous 10 years rather than the previous 20 years.

Richard Brooks is a British investigative journalist and former tax inspector. He writes principally for Private Eye, is the author of books on accountancy and tax avoidance, and was a 16-year senior corporate tax inspector for HMRC. He is the joint winner of two Paul Foot Awards, an annual award for investigative or campaigning journalism.

Scott Mead is an American fine art photographer, philanthropist, and investor currently based in London. After an early career in photography, Mead relocated to London in 1988, where as a partner at Goldman Sachs, he became known for overseeing and negotiating large telecommunications and technology mergers. In 2000 he was chief advisor on Vodafone's $200 billion buyout of Mannesmann, considered the largest corporate takeover in history. After joining Apax Partners in 2006, Mead joined the investment group of the Boston Celtics before co-founding Richmond Park Partners (RPP) in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Troup</span> British tax lawyer and civil servant

Sir John Edward Astley Troup is a British tax lawyer, and was a civil servant at HM Treasury and then HM Revenue & Customs. He spent two periods as a tax partner at the law firm Simmons & Simmons, from 1985 to 1995 and from 1997 to 2004, and was a special adviser to Kenneth Clarke as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1995-97.

Simon Paul Dingemans is an English former banker and businessman. Until May 2019 he was chief financial officer at GlaxoSmithKline. In July 2019 he was appointed chair of the Financial Reporting Council, and was set to lead its transition into the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority, but left in May 2020.

References

  1. ↑ "Ex-tax chief to advise on HSBC crackdown". The Daily Telegraph. London. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 "David Hartnett, Former Permanent Secretary for Tax and Commissioner of HMRC Guest Lecture". University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Dave Hartnett CB, Permanent Secretary for Tax". HMRC. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "No. 57613". The London Gazette . 14 April 2005. p. 4843.
  5. ↑ "No. 57414". The London Gazette . 24 September 2004. p. 11832.
  6. ↑ "Former HMRC boss Dave Hartnett joins tax firm Deloitte". BBC. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "St Mary's University, Twickenham".[ dead link ]
  8. ↑ Wallop, Harry (12 September 2010). "Dave Hartnett fails to win backing of Government over tax fiasco". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Brady, Brian (12 September 2010). "Tax chief finally says sorry for PAYE mistakes". Independent. London. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  10. ↑ "Protesters blockade Vodafone shops in tax protest". BBC News. 30 October 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Britain's £6 billion Vodafone bill". Private Eye (1273). 3 September 2010. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010.
  12. ↑ "Private Eye 1287". Private Eye (1287). Archived from the original on 4 December 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  13. ↑ Shaxson, Nick (2 May 2011). "The curious Dave Hartnett and Goldman's sweetheart tax deal". Treasure Islands Blog. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  14. ↑ Leigh, David (11 October 2011). "Goldman Sachs let off paying £10m interest on failed tax avoidance scheme". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  15. ↑ Charlie Cooper, "HMRC's former boss honoured ... for services to tax avoidance", The Independent, 25 September 2012
  16. ↑ Steven Reid, "Crashing the tax avoidance party", The Guardian, 25 September 2012
  17. ↑ "Agreement with Switzerland to secure billions in unpaid tax".
  18. ↑ "Former HMRC boss Dave Hartnett forced to defend new job – with HSBC". The Independent. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  19. ↑ "Former HMRC boss: I took job at HSBC to help fix bank". The Telegraph. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  20. ↑ Hope, Christopher (17 June 2010). "Whitehall's most wined and dined civil servant is HMRC's Dave Hartnett". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  21. ↑ Mba, Osita. "House of Commons - HC 1531 Public Accounts Committee: Further written evidence from Osita MBA". publications.parliament.uk. Public Accounts Committee. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  22. ↑ "Private Eye 1300". Private Eye (1300).
  23. ↑ "No. 56797". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 2002. p. 2.
  24. ↑ Official Who's Who website (subscription required)
  25. ↑ Mendick, Robert (11 September 2010). "The free drinks and dinners of Britain's most senior tax man". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 February 2015.

Offices held

Government offices
Preceded by Chairman of
HM Revenue & Customs
Acting
2007–2008		Succeeded byas Non-executive chairman, HMRC
Succeeded byas Chief Executive, HMRC
New office Second Permanent Secretary for Tax
HM Revenue & Customs
2008–2012		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.