HMRC ‘blocks honours for poor tax behaviour’

Celebrities and other figures who use controversial schemes to reduce their tax payments are being blocked from getting honours by the taxman, it was reported last night.

The Times claimed it had a document showing how HMRC rated nominees’ suitability for an honour in a traffic light system. It is said to be a memorandum of understanding between HMRC and the Cabinet Office that notes how “poor tax behaviour is not consistent with the award of an honour”.

The document is said to have emerged after Elizabeth Denham, the new information commissioner, instructed the Cabinet Office to disclose it under freedom of information laws.