A total of 583 companies were named and shamed by HMRC in 2025 for deliberately defaulting on tax
HMRC is responsible for handling tax in the UK(Image: Getty)
The UK’s biggest tax defaulters faced demands for nearly £533million from HMRC last year, more than double the amount from a year earlier.
A total of 583 companies were named and shamed by HMRC in 2025 for deliberately defaulting on tax. Those companies received £211million worth of penalties for skipping £322million of tax.
The government has been regularly publishing the names and addresses of those who deliberately default on tax of more than £25,000 since 2015.
These are people or firms who received penalties for “deliberate errors in their tax returns” or “deliberately failing to comply with their tax obligations”.
Tax defaulters can avoid the list, however, if they fully disclose details of the defaults to the taxman. The naming and shaming happens only once penalties are final.
You can use our interactive to find any tax defaulters near you
The amount published on the defaulters list last year was more than in any previous year. The £533million in combined tax and penalties was more than double the £209million published in 2024.
In 2023 it was £189million, in 2022 it was £131million, and in 2021 it was £143million. However, campaigners still feel that the government could do more.
Mike Lewis, director of TaxWatch said: “Half a billion pounds is roughly the cost of a GP appointment for every child in the UK. It’s time HMRC got serious about prosecuting tax evaders. There were more people prosecuted last year for fishing offences than for tax fraud.”
He urged HMRC to do more to go after rogue accountants and tax advisers who turn a blind eye to unpaid tax, or even collude in it.
He said: “To our knowledge HMRC has never used its powers to name dishonest tax advisers and tax agents – and has fined fewer than five of them in the last five years.”
An HMRC spokesperson said: “We are committed to tackling those who deliberately default on the tax they owe. By publishing the names of deliberate defaulters and their penalties, we send a clear message that non-compliance has consequences.”
The largest fine published last year was to Hive 360 Employer Limited (officially named 10442565 Ltd). The management consultancy firm, based in both Birmingham and London, was found to have defaulted on £87.5million worth of tax between February 2019 and January 2024.
They were handed a penalty of £56.9million, meaning they had to pay £144.4million to HMRC.
Three other “Hive 360” companies operating out of the same London address were also on the defaulters list last year for defaulting on tax between February 2019 and July 2023.
Hive 360 001 Limited defaulted on £4.4million of tax, receiving a £2.8million penalty. Hive 360 002 Limited defaulted on £10.1million of tax with a £6.5million penalty, and Hive 360 limited defaulted on £545,000 of tax with a £354,000 penalty.
That takes the total tax and fines for those companies to over £169million. The companies have since entered into insolvency.
Simplify Contracting Services Limited, a recruitment company based in Derby and Oxford, received the next highest charges from HMRC.
They were found to have defaulted on £35.8million worth of tax between December 2016 and August 2019, earning them a penalty of £24.8million. That’s a total of £60.6million owed to HMRC. The company went into liquidation.
Hillsea Electric Limited, a machine tools wholesaler from Folkestone in Kent, was found to have defaulted on £19.8million of tax between September and November 2023.
A penalty of £13.3million saw them owing the Exchequer £33.1million. They have also gone into liquidation.
Property developer Hasan Nawaz Sharif, meanwhile, was revealed in March last year to have defaulted on £9.4million of tax, earning a fine of £5.3million.
Squibb Group Limited, a demolition company from Barking in London, were found to have defaulted on £8.2million of tax between February 2011 and January 2015, receiving penalties of £6.2million. This company has also gone into liquidation.
A company formerly known as Motivated Intelligence Technology Ltd and B Excell Solutions Ltd failed to pay £6.8million in tax between July 2022 and March 2023, earning them a fine of £4.7million.
Manchester-based vape importers, Max Distributors Ltd, are another tax defaulter that have gone into liquidation. The company defaulted on £6.2million of tax between August 2023 and April 2024, resulting in penalties of over £4.3million.
Metropolitan International Schools Limited of Luton were found last year to have defaulted on £4.8million of tax between two periods, from April 2010 to March 2011 and from April 2012 to September 2020. That earned them penalties of £4.4million. Again, the company has entered into liquidation.
The list of companies published by HMRC only includes those penalised under civil procedures and does not include criminal convictions for tax fraud.
Some of the money owed may have been paid back and HMRC says the list “does not necessarily represent the full default of the taxpayer”.
The names of the companies are from the time of the default in tax. HMRC stress that it should be considered that the published person may have changed their behaviour, and that the business currently at the published address may have the same name as the published business but could be under completely new management
