Budget 2011: litigation, enforcement and compliance

The Budget did not contain any real surprises on the contentious tax front. The ‘big news’ was already out there – namely the commitment of £900 million of resource to tackle evasion and avoidance over the next four years with a view to bringing in a further £7 billion of tax revenue per year. Part of this programme includes a five-fold increase in criminal investigations into tax evasion. This was confirmed by HMRC in their report to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published 17 March 2011 – and is again cited in HMRC’s Budget document Tackling Tax Avoidance. At the very least this should put paid to any remaining scepticism as to whether HMRC are prepared to put their money where their mouth is. Performance on these criteria will be monitored very carefully indeed not least by the...