Back to the drawing board
The government wants to step up the fight against enablers of tax abuse (again). New powers and better information can help. But HMRC is barely using the powers and penalties it already has.
Chancellor grasps at the magic money tree whilst tacitly admitting HMRC’s prosecution rates are so low they haven’t been deterring evasion.
Government’s Spring Statement hopes compliance and debt collection efforts pay off to recover more tax lost to avoidance
Curiously incurious: HMRC’s failures on tax evasion
The latest report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) paints a concerning picture of tax evasion in the UK retail sector. It highlights significant gaps in enforcement, underestimated scale of evasion, and a worrying decline in prosecutions. The report raises significant concerns about HMRC’s seemingly incurious approach to the scale of tax evasion.
Not pulling punches: Public Accounts Committee slams HMRC’s kid gloves approach to tax gap and criminal prosecutions
HMRC’s offshore tax gap estimate labelled “implausibly low” and raises concerns raised about lack of strategy for reducing the tax gap and lack of prosecutions
Anything to declare? HMRC slips out new R&D relief disclosure facility on New Year’s Eve…
Businesses who overclaimed R&D tax relief invited to disclose and repay with HMRC’s new disclosure facility, although it might not prove as popular as the Government hopes
A ‘guestimate not an estimate?’ PAC grills HMRC top brass about its lack of strategy on tax evasion in online retail
Public Accounts committee grill HMRC for not having a strategic plan nor reliable estimate for on tax evasion in online retail sector.
Raising Standards in the UK Tax Advice Market: The Government’s next steps appear to be a march into the long grass
The Government’s next steps to regulate and improve standards in the UK tax advice market betray the aims and findings of the recent consultation and demonstrate a lack of political will on the issue.
New statistics show £300m lost to offshore tax gap on over 7million accounts held overseas likely to be gross underestimate
HMRC’s first estimate of the offshore tax gap for 2018, seems a wild underestimate at just £300 million based on questionable methodological choices.
New statistics show HMRC’s clampdown on R&D claims beginning to take effect
Latest HMRC figures show the cost of R&D relief claims increasing but in relation to fewer claims being made for 2022-23. This implies HMRC’s compliance changes are discouraging claims that are less likely to be qualifying, especially those of lower value or in particular sectors.