In Treasury minutes, the government disagreed with all nine conclusions of the Public Accounts Committee on HMRC tax collection in the PAC’s 34th annual report. The following points are particularly worth noting.
Bill Dodwell writes that much of the PAC’s recent report on HMRC sees the committee drift away from evidence-based findings to opinion
The Public Accounts Committee has published a highly critical report of HMRC’s tax collection abilities. Among many of the criticisms of the department, the report stated that HMRC ‘collected less tax in real terms [last year] than it managed to collect in 2011/12’.
David Whiscombe considers the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Cotter.
Paul Aplin on the aspirations for HMRC
‘Big brother’ concerns are misplaced, says Tim Buckingham of Eversheds via Lexis®PSL Financial Services
A new crackdown on tax evasion will make information on all credit and debit card payments to UK businesses available to HMRC for the first time. Legislation was introduced in FA 2013 s 228 allowing HMRC access to merchant acquirer data, and came into effect on 1 September 2013 (SI 2013/1811).
HMRC has published its Business Plan update for 2013/14, in which it restates its determination to clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion, using new technology, a ‘raft of new campaigns and taskforces’ and legislation aimed both at tax avoiders and scheme promoters, writes Dawn Register.
Who could be caught by reform proposals on ‘high-risk promoters’? Jonathan Levy considers the likely impact of HMRC’s latest consultation.