London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Sep 19, 2025

Nadhim Zahawi paid penalty as part of HMRC tax dispute

Nadhim Zahawi paid penalty as part of HMRC tax dispute

Nadhim Zahawi paid a penalty to resolve a dispute with HM Revenue & Customs over unpaid tax, the BBC has been told.

The Conservative Party chairman has said an error in his tax affairs was accepted by HMRC as having been "careless and not deliberate".

On Saturday he said he made a payment to settle the issue. But while it had previously been reported this included a penalty, it had not been confirmed.

On Sunday evening, Mr Zahawi's allies insisted he would continue in his role.

The BBC understands the dispute was resolved while Mr Zahawi was chancellor between July and September last year - and the total amount paid is in region of what has been reported, about £5m.

Pressure has been growing on Mr Zahawi to give more details about his finances after reports emerged this week he had agreed to pay millions of pounds to HMRC to settle his tax affairs.

The Guardian had previously reported that Mr Zahawi paid back tax he had owed, as well as a 30% penalty, with the total settlement amounting to £4.8m.

The tax was related to a shareholding in YouGov, the polling company he co-founded in 2000 before he became an MP.

Mr Zahawi has not confirmed how much his penalty amounted to, nor the total value of the final settlement with HMRC.

Labour said there were a whole list of questions that still needed answers - and called on him to publish all his correspondence with HMRC "so we can get the full picture". Labour also said there are questions over the timing.

Although the BBC has been told the issue with HMRC was resolved while Mr Zahawi was chancellor - and the minister ultimately responsible for HMRC - but it is still not clear when he originally became aware of it.

His allies claim he told the government's Propriety and Ethics Team - which is in charge of ensuring ethics across government departments - about it before his appointment as chancellor.

And after having become chancellor, Mr Zahawi did not seek to challenge HMRC's demands, but instructed his accountants to pay all of what they said was due, the BBC has been told.

On Sunday, senior Conservative Sir Iain Duncan Smith then joined the calls for more scrutiny, urging Mr Zahawi to release "the absolute facts" and "get it all out now, whatever you have to do and clear it up".

But he defended Mr Zahawi, saying he did not believe he was "deceitful".

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said it was for Mr Zahawi to decide "how much detail to put in the public domain".

The BBC was previously told on Saturday that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was satisfied with Mr Zahawi's account and has confidence in him as chairman of the Conservative Party.


Who is Nadhim Zahawi?


Nadhim Zahawi was announced as chancellor on 5 July 2022, hours after the resignation of Rishi Sunak from Boris Johnson's government.

He was previously education secretary and before that, coronavirus vaccines minister. He was made minister for equalities, minister for intergovernmental relations, and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster under Liz Truss.

Mr Sunak appointed him as Conservative Party chairman and minister without portfolio, attending cabinet, on 25 October.

Mr Zahawi has been the Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010.


Watch: Cleverly defends Zahawi over tax avoidance claims


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×