New development. Guardian reporting Zahawi paid the tax plus interest, plus a 30% penalty - over £5m.
30% is at the lower end of what I'd expect. But the obvious point: people whose taxes are "fully up to date" don't pay 30% penalties to HMRC. theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/j…
30% is at the lower end of what I'd expect. But the obvious point: people whose taxes are "fully up to date" don't pay 30% penalties to HMRC. theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/j…
And - important point - if the £5m and 30% figures are correct, that is absolutely consistent with my original estimate back in July that Zahawi owed £3.7m in tax. taxpolicy.org.uk/2022/07/10/zah…
Here's the current HMRC guidance on penalties: 
Tax nerd note: exactly on what basis the tax was charged, when interest was computed from, limitation periods, penalty regime etc, are all impossible questions to answer without more facts. In particular - when was the cash received by Zahawi in the UK and in what form?
Possibly this was put in the "too complicated and not really relevant" box and the settlement simply specifies an amount? @nimshah14 and #taxtwitter, what do you think?
And Zahawi's response of "Nadhim Zahawi does not recognise this amount". So it was £5.2m?
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