Six of the 18 tech giants that pay the UK’s new digital services tax have faced investigations by HMRC, according to Pinsent Masons.
Sophie Warren, tax manager at Pinsent Masons, said: ‘As this is a very new tax, there’s a lot of scope for differing interpretations of the rules and HMRC has been tightly focused on making sure digital businesses pay all the digital services tax they owe’.
This, she says, has led to a proportionately large number of pre-emptive investigations to make sure all UK revenues are being booked properly in the UK. However, ‘a compliance check doesn’t necessarily mean there has been “any element of non-compliance”’, she added.
HMRC estimate that the new tax has raised £567m in tax in 2022/23, which is up 49 per cent from the £380m in its first year.
Six of the 18 tech giants that pay the UK’s new digital services tax have faced investigations by HMRC, according to Pinsent Masons.
Sophie Warren, tax manager at Pinsent Masons, said: ‘As this is a very new tax, there’s a lot of scope for differing interpretations of the rules and HMRC has been tightly focused on making sure digital businesses pay all the digital services tax they owe’.
This, she says, has led to a proportionately large number of pre-emptive investigations to make sure all UK revenues are being booked properly in the UK. However, ‘a compliance check doesn’t necessarily mean there has been “any element of non-compliance”’, she added.
HMRC estimate that the new tax has raised £567m in tax in 2022/23, which is up 49 per cent from the £380m in its first year.
