The government set out plans in the Autumn Budget 2024 to commission another independent review of the Loan Charge policy that in its words will help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. This description was seized on by contractors in scope of the policy as a positive sign.Its not hard to see why. The policy is a mechanism for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury to recoup tax that government estimates suggest around 50,000 contractors avoided paying by enrolling in loan-based remuneration schemes between 9 December 2010 and 6 April 2019.Computer Weekly has heard and published numerous accounts from IT contractors who participated in these schemes and have been saddled with life-changing tax bills they claim to have no hope or means of paying, since the policy came into effect in April 2019.When the government publicly committed to taking actions to help bring the matter to a close for those affected, there was an expectation among some of those affected that this might result in the Loan Charge being repealed and their tax bills cancelled.That notion was firmly put to bed on 23 January 2025, when the government issued confirmation that the review had been commissioned and that repealing the policy in totality was not what it meant about wanting to bring the matter to a close.Instead, the government said the review would focus on investigating the factors stopping people from settling their Loan Charge liabilities with HMRC and finding ways to help them do so.It also confirmed that HM Treasury had appointed former HMRC assistant director Ray McCann to oversee it. He has also previously served as president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and has been in private practice for almost 20 years.The reviewer [McCann] is being asked to draw on the available evidence and expertise, engaging with stakeholders as appropriate, to consider in detail the settlement terms available [to those] who have not yet settled and paid their tax liabilities in full to HMRC, and whether HMRCs settlement and debt management processes sufficiently take into account their ability to pay and behaviours, said the government statement.[It will also look into] how that population could now be encouraged to reach a resolution with HMRC; and what decisions would be required to ensure that, as far as possible, any new settlement proposals were properly targeted whilst not imposing significant additional administrative burdens upon HMRC.Once the information about what the review would entail entered the public domain, a wave of criticism was directed at the government from those affected by the policy, with many accusing the government of offering false hope with its promise the review would bring the Loan Charge matter to a close for them.Campaign groups have also claimed the review is too narrow in scope, given its focus on what can be done to encourage people to settle their Loan Charge liabilities, rather than examining the reasons why tens of thousands of people joined loan schemes in the first place.During a sit-down with Computer Weekly to discuss his plans for the review in more detail, McCann says the terms of the review are wider than many people suggest.Everything of any significance, so far as the Loan Charge is concerned, happens in the period post-2010, so that means its open to me to look at anything that happens in that period, including the behaviour of the promoters and the behaviour of HMRC, he says.The call for evidence period of the review started on 28 March 2025, with McCann urging those in the policys scope to send him evidence covering three topics: what contractors were told by promoters of these schemes, their experience of dealing with HMRC, and details about how the policy has personally affected them.The rationale behind that, as McCann sees it, is that it would be difficult to see how the Loan Charge can be resolved without having a detailed understanding of how so many people ended up embroiled in loan schemes and why they are finding it so difficult to reach a settlement with HMRC.Another area that McCann plans to explore during his review is HMRCs 2017 assessment of the impact the Loan Charge would have, in which the government tax collection agency stated that it did not foresee the policy having any material impact on the families of those in scope of it. [Repealing the Loan Charge] would be a bad move because whether people realise it or not many individuals have got millions out of loan schemes and paid little or no tax on it Ray McCann, independent Loan Charge reviewThis statement has been openly criticised during the intervening years, as anecdotal accounts from contractors discussing the mental anguish of living with a sizeable Loan Charge-related tax bill hanging over them have emerged. The policy has also been linked to at least 10 suicides to date.Ive been critical of [the HMRC assessment] in the past. Ive criticised that in various formats: on Twitter, in various tax journals, publicly, and so on, says McCann.What is not open to McCann is to make a recommendation in his final report to repeal the Loan Charge policy. And thats not because the contents of it are pre-determined, as some critics of the process have claimed, but because doing so would not be fair to other taxpayers.After all, the government has previously and repeatedly stated that resolving the Loan Charge is a priority, but doing so must happen in a way that ensures fairness for all taxpayers.Its not open to me to recommend that the Loan Charge be repealed, and the government has made clear from the start that repeal was not an option, and equally I dont think it should be. It would be a bad move because whether people realise it or not there are many individuals who have got millions out of loan schemes and paid little or no tax on it, says McCann.Government has a responsibility to the many millions who pay tax and national insurance contributions [NIC] on all of their earnings, and unless this is resolved in a way that is fair to both those affected by the loan charge and the millions of other taxpayers, many would no doubt ask why you and I should pay our tax and national insurance?As previously alluded to, McCann has proven to be a vocal critic of HMRCs handling of the Loan Charge over the years, and was during his time working at the government agency closely involved in its enforcement activities against similar disguised remuneration schemes.Ive been involved in [enforcement action against] loan schemes in one capacity or another for a quarter of a century. When I was in the Revenue [HMRC] in the 1990s, I was one of the first inspectors to take on one of the big employee benefit trusts [EBTs], he says.These trusts are the entities that pay out loans to contractors. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many large employers in the banking and financial sector used EBTs as a mechanism to pay their employees in loans.One of the last things I did before I left HMRC in 2006 was pre-empt the settlement with several banks in late 2005. One of the banks that I had challenged had put a billion pounds into an employee benefit trust, he says.They had claimed the corporate tax deduction for it, [but] they hadnt deducted PAYE [Pay As You Earn] or NIC, so all told, that group of banks had avoided hundreds of millions in tax and NIC.During the intervening years, the profile of organisations and individuals involved in loan-based remuneration schemes has markedly changed, says McCann, to include white collar workers, such as financial services and IT contractors, before moving down to far lower-paid individuals, such as social workers and NHS staff.The thing that shocks me is how low down the income scale these things have reached. Theyre like a virus. They have gone from the large corporates to the big banks to the middle-sized companies, and then down to various people working offshore, putting together schemes that are ensnaring people who are on just everyday wages, he says.And thats why successive governments have treated this as such a priority because of the threat that they see it being towards the entire PAYE and NICsystem.Loan-based remuneration schemes enable individuals to artificially minimise the amount of employment tax they pay.However, many of the contractors in scope of the Loan Charge policy claim the schemes were marketed as an HMRC-compliant way of bolstering their take-home pay, and that they were assured by respected tax barristers that in the eyes of HMRC they were doing nothing wrong.The way McCann sees it, that explanation only goes so far. Many people will have concerns, even if they get assurance from the promoter. And most of them did get assurances from promoters saying, Its all fine. Its all tried and tested, and HMRC dont mind, he says.But I think there is only so far you can believe that to be the case without evidence, and some of that has already come into the review mailbox.Meanwhile, HMRC maintains that its position on the use of loan remuneration schemes has always been clear, and that it has never given its seal of approval to any such setup.Even if you go back to 2010 and before, HMRCs position on [the use of EBTs] was all over the internet, says McCann. If you did a Google search at the time on EBTs, you might get millions of hits and most of them were about HMRCs view on them.And what this serves to highlight is one of the major difficulties McCann will face in his review: uncovering evidence that supports the argument that contractors are victims of mis-selling when so much time has passed since these schemes were originally being marketed to people.Thats the task before me getting sufficient reliable evidence to show that the promoters are the bad guys that I can put in my review, so Im in a position to put forward the argument that these are the people HMRC should have been clamping down on and where appropriate criticising them for not doing it, he says.This is why it is so important that contractors engage with the review process during the call for evidence period, so their side of the story can be fully put across, he continues.Meanwhile, McCann has been reaching out to contacts he made during his time investigating loan schemes while at HMRC, some of whom used to sell or market these kinds of ideas, to engage in the review too.I dont need everybody to send me details in, because if all 50,000 people in scope of the Loan Charge send me their evidence, this review would take 10 years to complete. But what I do need is enough to get involved that I can sensibly make a case that this is representative of what happened, he says.What I want to be able to do [with this review] is say this is representative of what happened, and its reasonable to conclude that within these types of industries, this is the behaviour [of] the promoters. And up to a point, its reasonable to conclude that the individuals involved, who often did not have independent professional help, were persuaded that this was okay.He also needs contractors to engage in the review by supplying a substantial and significant amount of evidence that proves their claims that their treatment at the hands of HMRC has been unreasonably and manifestly unfair in the eyes of the average person in the street who pays tax and national insurance.The argument youve got to make is that theyre being treated in a way thats unreasonably unfair, and in a way you and I dont support, McCann adds.When the government set out the reviews terms of reference, a group of cross-party MPs who make up the Loan Charge and Taxpayer Fairness All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) issued a statement brandishing the exercise a farce while calling into question how truly independent the end product would be.This was on the basis that a former HMRC director had been appointed to oversee the review, and as confirmed by the government HMRC and HM Treasury would be permitted to review its contents ahead of publication.It will not change the position people are in, nor review the legislation and whether it was fair and justified. This is not the review that was promised nor the review that is so desperately needed, and the APPG will continue to push for a genuine inquiry into this scandal, said the APPG.Despite the groups vocal critique, McCann says he has been liaising with the APPG in the wake of its statement and has found its members are broadly supportive of what it is he is trying to achieve.He has also been engaging with various stakeholders including noted tax barristers and accounting firms who represent large numbers of the contractors affected by the Loan Charge to compile evidence for the review, including impact statements.Ive got a big data request that Im drafting at the moment to send to HMRC so that I can get proper data the numbers involved, the income spread, how long people have been under inquiry for, and that kind of thing, he says.I had to delay things a bit because the need to be independent means I couldnt use HMRC and Treasury people for support, and there had to be a recruitment process across the whole of the civil service [for people to assist].McCann is acutely aware that the decision to appoint him, a former HMRC inspector, to oversee the review has not gone down well with everyone. There is no way Im going to take instruction from HMRC or the Treasury on how to conduct the review and they have done nothing that could be taken as trying to control the review or its direction Ray McCann, independent Loan Charge reviewSome people have said that Im under the control of the Treasury but there is no way Im going to take instruction from HMRC or the Treasury on how to conduct the review and to be fair to the Treasury and HMRC, they have done nothing that could be taken as trying to control the review or its direction, he says.I obviously must comply with the law on data protection and so on, but Im going to carry out the review as I believe it needs to be done. The minister made clear that my conclusions and recommendations must be made within the constraints of the current fiscal situation, but otherwise its up to me.And for those who have taken issue with an ex-HMRC director conducting a review into an HMRC-backed government policy, McCann says his employment history and experiences should be viewed positively.On the point of independence, I initially thought that should be more of a concern for HMRC than people on the other side of the inquiry, because for eight years Ive been consistently critical of their handling of the Loan Charge, he says.One area that McCann has been particularly and publicly critical about HMRC over is the organisations approach to Loan Charge settlements.I have been pressurising ministers and HMRC for years to develop a better approach to settlements, and I got frustrated with the fact that it never appeared, so I started to publicly criticise them through Twitter and LinkedIn, and in various things I was writing, adds McCann.Almost every article Ive written in the last eight years mentions the Loan Charge to some extent or another, and its always been critical of HMRCs approach to settlements. Ive been consistently critical on that front, [and] Ive made it clear to Parliament, and Ive made it clear to government, that HMRC should have been more realistic when it came to the settlement terms.In terms of what he thinks HMRC should have done differently, McCann says: I have said in the past that HMRC should have offered settlement terms that were sufficiently attractive that it made people want to settle, but what HMRC did was only give the slightest of discounts [to people who wanted to settle] and left them in a position where they did not know how they would pay.It is McCanns hope that when the review concludes which is expected to be later this summer and its contents have been mulled over by the government, contractors will end up with a far more attainable settlement figure.I want to end up with a situation where people get a settlement figure from HMRC that they can look at and say, Well, okay, even if Id rather not pay it, I can pay it, within a reasonable period if necessary. Whereas, presently, people are saying, Id rather not pay it, but even if I did want to pay it, I cant afford to. I want to change that dynamic, says McCann.And in doing that, he hopes this will finally help bring a resolution for the tens of thousands of people who have been living under the shadow of the Loan Charge for the past eight or so years.We can argue that HMRC should have gone after this promoter or that promoter, and all manner of other things to do with the Loan Charge, but that doesnt help someone who is sitting at home worried about the bailiffs coming round, he says.If someones drowning in a river, theyre not going to be helped if people are just standing on the shore arguing about how they got in the river in the first place. They just want someone to rescue them.In the meantime, McCanns priority is getting people affected by the Loan Charge to contribute to the review.I know people are mistrusting [after past reviews]. Whether that mistrust is justified or not, I want them to take a deep breath and engage with this review because something has to come out of it as we all need this resolved, he concludes.Read more about the Loan ChargeTens of thousands of IT contractors have been saddled with life-changing tax billsas a result of a controversial, retroactive government policy and the fall-out from its introduction has been likened to the Post Office IT scandal.After campaigners called for HMRC to pause all of its Loan Charge enforcementactivity until the governments independent review of the policy is complete, Computer Weekly has learned that the agency is accepting requests to pause settlements.

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Highly anticipated: When Avowed allowed customers to seamlessly switch between Xbox consoles, the Xbox app, and Blizzard's Battle.net client at launch, many hoped that more Microsoft-published titles would follow. The company has been silent regarding its plans until now, but the upcoming release of Doom: The Dark Ages suggests that the feature wasn't a one-off. When Doom: The Dark Ages launches on May 15, Game Pass subscribers or those who purchase digital copies on Xbox, the Microsoft Store, or Blizzard's Battle.net launcher can access the game on all three platforms. Repeating Avowed's cross-buy launch last month, the move indicates a trend that might extend to other Microsoft titles.The new option will likely meet a positive reception because many users view Battle.net as a more mature and reliable launcher than Microsoft's Xbox app. When the company purchased Activision Blizzard for a historic $69 billion, Battle.net might have seemed redundant outside its role as a launcher for Blizzard titles like Diablo and World of Warcraft. However, Microsoft is allowing players to choose between two launchers it owns, raising questions regarding a possible expansion of Battle.net's library.Also see: Most Anticipated PC Games of 2025 (Including Doom: The Dark Ages)Thus far, there is no indication that the company intends to release South of Midnight -- which launches on April 8 -- on Battle.net. Other upcoming Microsoft-published titles in consideration include The Outer Worlds 2 from Avowed developer Obsidian, Fable, Clockwork Revolution, Gears of War: E-Day, and Perfect Dark.Hopefully, Microsoft is also considering bringing its recent releases to Blizzard's client, such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Age of Mythology: Retold, or Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Game Pass subscribers dissatisfied with the Xbox app might also wish to see non-Microsoft titles appear, but nothing currently suggests this is likely. // Related StoriesTo link a Battle.net and Microsoft account, log into the former, click on the username in the top right corner, and head to Account Settings > Connections > Xbox Network. Then, log in to a Microsoft account.Id Software also revealed new gameplay details from Doom: The Dark Ages this week. New previews outline features like the parry system, piloting a giant robot, and flying a cybernetic dragon. The company also teased a massive open-ended map where players can complete objectives and discover secrets in any order.Doom: The Dark Ages launches on Xbox Series consoles, Game Pass, Battle.net, Steam, and PlayStation 5 on May 15. Those who pre-order the limited edition can access the game on May 13.

In brief: AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D remains an incredibly popular CPU, especially among gamers. But it seems not every buyer is having a good experience. There have been over 100 cases of owners whose chips have died after working for a short amount of time, and for no obvious reason. Reddit user natty_overlord compiled a list of all 108 Reddit posts involving a Ryzen 7 9800X3D that died. The chips passed POST and worked for varying amounts of time before dying with no signs of failure.What's interesting is the brand of motherboard these failures occurred on. 98 of the cases, or 82%, happened on Asrock boards, though that could be due to their popularity as a more budget-friendly board maker. Tom's Hardware notes that the company released a new firmware update for AM5 motherboards in February that improved boot problems in AMD 9000 series CPUs. Whether those issues are related to the dying chips is unclear.Also read: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Review: The New Gaming CPU KingThe rest of the boards are made up of 16 from Asus, 5 from MSI, and 1 from Gigabyte.natty_overlord also tallied the cases based on chipset. The largest number of incidents, 49, occurred on X870, followed by B850 (36), B650 (16), and X670 (7). Being a relatively new chip, it's not too surprising that most of the cases happened on the latest 800-series boards. // Related StoriesThe time it took for the CPUs to experience failure ranged from just half and hour to a few months.Several cases of Ryzen 7 9800X3D chips mysteriously dying surfaced earlier this year. One Redditor said he built a brand-new PC with an Asrock X870 motherboard that ran smoothly without overclocking or high temperatures. But the system shut down after about three weeks while he was watching TV. Upon inspection, the 9800X3D chip and motherboard showed severe thermal damage (below).The situation brings to mind the overheating problems in the Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs from a couple of years ago that were related to AMD EXPO profiles and SoC voltages. It led to Asus updating its warranty policy for AM5 motherboards following an investigation by Gamers Nexus.It's worth remembering that while over 100 incidents is no small number, there are thousands of Ryzen 7 9800X3D sold every month. It was initially difficult to buy the chips as they were sold out everywhere, something AMD blamed on Intel's "horrible" CPU release (Arrow Lake desktop). Moreover, some of these failures will likely have been due to user error, as was the case with one of the first reported instances of 9800X3Ds burning up in November.

Despite all the tomfoolery that surrounds April Fools Day, heres one nugget of truth: Rick and Morty has announced its season eight premiere date for May 25, 2025. The notoriously irreverent show broke the news at the end of its April Fools Day special in a reenactment of key moments from the series in a live-action format. If you didnt catch it live, dont be surprised. The broadcast was in the middle of the night last night or more specifically, right after midnight the morning of April 1. This wasnt a new episode, exactly, but rather Adult Swims take on live-action theater. It was 22 minutes of some of the best moments from Rick and Morty, including the famous Pickle Rick costume. Recommended VideosWe hope you enjoyed our theater interpretations of Rick and Morty, especially if you are well-off/impulsive and now want to back a Broadway version of the show, Adult Swim said in a press release. For the rest of you, were glad you now know when Season Eight is starting so you have time to stretch and get loose because the team has yet again made a totally great season of television.Unfortunately for fans, the team is playing it close to the vest with this new season. There are few details about what the new season will include, and anyone claiming to know otherwise probably shouldnt be trusted, at least not today. That said, we can make a few guesses.RelatedSeason eight is likely to be more of the same shenanigans as the previous seasons, and that isnt a bad thing. Between its clever writing, irreverent jokes, and seemingly endless ability to take a topic and flip it on its head, youre sure to be entertained. Tune in at 11 PM ET on May 25 to catch the new season as soon as it premieres. Editors Recommendations

AMD is responsible for some of the best processors for gamers right now, but for a handful of unlucky users, these CPUs seem to be running into issues lately. Reports from Reddit indicate failures big and small, but they all seem to have two things in common: High-end Ryzen 9000 CPUs and ASRock motherboards.Todays CPU failure report is especially bleak one unlucky user had their AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D completely destroyed due to bulging and heat damage. As a result, their PC will no longer boot up. The user described their story and shared some images on the r/pcmasterrace community on Reddit.Recommended VideosUnsurprisingly, their PC was newly built after all, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a very new CPU. In this setup, it was paired with AMDs best graphics card, the RX 9070 XT, as well as an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler, which is a necessity for the 9950X3D. Upon building the rig, the user went on to update the BIOS, and everything was fine just as long as the PC wasnt under heavy load. Things went south when the Redditor got a new monitor, though. Upgrading to a 4K OLED 32-inch monitor and several hours of gaming did the CPU in. The user mentions playing League (which could mean Rocket League, but my bet is on League of Legends either way, both easy to handle for a rig of this caliber). They then took a break to make some dinner and found the PC completely dead upon their return, with nothing else on except the M.2 light on the motherboard. Various attempts at troubleshooting didnt help the situation. Opening up the case revealed the CPU in a bad condition. Image used with permission by copyright holderWhen I checked the CPU, I found that there was bubbling in one area (which I think pushed the contact pads into the pins, causing indentation on the pads) and some discoloration suggesting scorch marks [] on another area of the CPU. There is discoloration on the socket of the motherboard, but no bent pins, said i_fliu on Reddit.Seeing as the user didnt overclock or underclock the CPU and wasnt using PMO, this shouldnt have happened. It could be a case of faulty hardware or a poorly installed CPU, but the fact that there have been other cases of this happening on ASRock motherboards makes me pause and think.Weve seen over a hundred Ryzen 7 9800X3D processors suffering from similar issues, and these also largely concern the combination of Ryzen CPU and ASRock motherboard. Now, the 9950X3D joins the list, and as mentioned by VideoCardz, this isnt the first case of problems for the 9950X3D on an ASRock motherboard.This could be a case of BIOS settings, and thatd probably be the best-case scenario, as thats an easier fix. If the motherboard delivers too much power to the CPU, this kind of thing can definitely happen. However, until either AMD or ASRock addresses these issues, it remains unclear whether theres any problem with either hardware or software well have to wait and see.Editors Recommendations