Nadhim Zahawi admits he paid a settlement to HMRC after “careless and not deliberate” tax error

Nadhim Zahawi has admitted he paid a settlement to HM Revenue & Customs after a “careless and not deliberate” tax error related to his father’s shareholding in YouGov. The embattled Tory party chairman has been under pressure since it was reported that he paid HMRC a seven-figure sum to end a dispute, with Labour calling for him to be sacked. The former chancellor released a statement on Saturday to “address some of the confusion about my finances”, but opposition parties said important facts had been left out and demanded an independent probe. Mr Zahawi said that when he set up the YouGov polling company in 2000, his father took founder shares. He added: “Twenty one years later, when I was being appointed chancellor of the Exchequer, questions were being raised about my tax affairs. I discussed this with the Cabinet Office at the time. “Following discussions with HMRC, they agreed that my father was entitled to founder shares in YouGov, though they disagreed about the exact allocation. They concluded that this was a ‘careless and not deliberate’ error. “So that I could focus on my life as a public servant, I chose to settle the matter and pay what they said was due, which was the right thing to do. Mr Zahawi said the matter was resolved and “all my tax affairs were up to date” when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed him as party chairman. Daily Record Homepage: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ Daily Record Facebook: https://facebook.com/TheScottishDailyRecord Daily Record IG: https://instagram.com/scottishdailyrecord Daily Record Twitter: https://twitter.com/Daily_Record Daily Record Newsletters: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/newsletter-preference-centre/ You can get all the latest news, sport, showbiz and comment at DailyRecord.co.uk LIKE | COMMENT | SUBSCRIBE | SHARE #DailyRecord #HMRC #tax