Tax return initiative brings the tax system into ‘further disrepute’, says Lakshmi Narain
HMRC invited anyone with information about suspected tax fraud to call its ‘tax evasion hotline’ as it announced that a plumber who pleaded guilty to fraudulent tax evasion – contrary to the Taxes Management Act 1970 – had been jailed for 12 months.
HMRC has paid more than £1m to informants in the last three financial years.
David Gauke’s comments last week highlighted the fact that ‘not all tax losses are down to contrived avoidance schemes used by the wealthy’
Nyree Craig explains why the UK's basic principle of non-cooperation is now a thing of the past.
HMRC’s ‘Tax Return Initiative’, aimed at taxpayers who have outstanding self assessment returns for 2009/10 or earlier, has prompted tax professionals to repeat calls for a general disclosure facility open to all taxpayers.
HMRC expects to recover £30m from compliance activity by new taskforces tackling evasion among Scottish pubs and nightclubs; hair and beauty businesses in Northern Ireland; the motor trade in South Wales, the South West, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and the North East; and restaurants in South Wale
A millionaire property developer who failed to disclose a Swiss bank account to HMRC during a civil enquiry pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue, in the first prosecution based on data stolen by a former HSBC employee and obtained by HMRC under the terms of a tax treaty with France.
HMRC needs a ‘better understanding’ of the costs and benefits of interventions such as debt campaigns and initiatives to drive down error and fraud in tax credits, according to the Head of the National Audit Office.