HMRC is set to raise the threshold for publicly naming deliberate tax defaulters, with a narrow but meaningful change taking effect on 2 October 2026. According to the statutory instrument published on legislation.gov.uk, the trigger in section 94 of the Finance Act 2009 will move from £25,000 to £50,000. That means the Treasury is not rewriting the wider compliance regime. It is changing one number, but it is a number that matters because it helps decide when a tax dispute moves from a financial penalty to a public reputational event.

The Order was made on 9 September 2026 and laid before the House of Commons on 11 September 2026. Its formal title is the Finance Act 2009 (Publishing Details of Deliberate Tax Defaulters: Increase to Threshold) Order 2026. The explanatory note is clear on the starting point. HMRC can publish information, including names, where a person has been penalised for a deliberate default and the tax lost is above the statutory threshold. From October, cases above £25,000 but not exceeding £50,000 will no longer meet that test for publication.

For SMEs, finance directors and advisers, that shift matters because HMRC naming is not just a line in a notice. It can affect supplier confidence, lender conversations, tendering, and the willingness of counterparties to give a business the benefit of the doubt. It is also worth being precise about what has not changed. A deliberate default remains a serious compliance failure. Tax due, penalties and HMRC scrutiny do not disappear because the publication threshold is higher.

There is a human angle here as well. In owner-managed businesses, a published HMRC notice can follow directors and families long after the tax case itself is settled, especially once names are indexed online and repeated elsewhere. Raising the threshold may reduce that exposure for smaller cases, even while the legal finding of deliberate behaviour stays in place. That softer naming test, however, should not be mistaken for a softer stance on compliance. For boards and senior managers, the more useful reading is that reputation risk has been adjusted at the margin, not removed.

The legal change is tightly drawn. The Order was made by the Treasury under section 94(12) of the Finance Act 2009 and signed by Christian Wakeford and Shaun Davies, two of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, on 9 September 2026. The explanatory note also says a Tax Information and Impact Note was published on 13 July 2026 and remains an accurate summary of the measure. That points to a policy move that has been in preparation for some time rather than a last-minute compliance reset.

For businesses, the practical message is fairly plain. Governance teams should still treat deliberate tax behaviour as a board-level issue, refresh internal controls, and make sure tax reporting lines are clear before 2 October 2026. The threshold for public naming is rising, but the standard expected by HMRC is not. In Market Pulse UK terms, this is a small legislative amendment with a real-world effect. Some taxpayers will face a lower chance of public exposure, yet no firm should read that as permission to relax. The better response is simple: tighter processes, better records and fewer avoidable risks.