Sweet Deception: £4.4bn tax evasion leaves a sour taste for HMRC
NAO calls out HMRC for not having a strategic plan on tax evasion.
The SME R&D tax relief scheme: lessons in how not to implement a tax relief
Once again, the National Audit Office qualified HMRC’s accounts due to a “material level of error and fraud in Corporation Tax research and development reliefs”. Whilst the good news is that the estimated error rate within the relief is coming down it remains unacceptably high. It has taken years for HMRC to admit there were problems, despite plenty of warnings, and action has been too slow to avoid the situation getting totally out of hand.
Mining the gap
TaxWatch analyses the latest tax gap data and examines manifesto pledges to narrow the gap to see whether they represent credible plans to increase tax revenues
HMRC’s 2024 Tax Gap report: Amount of tax going unpaid hits record high at £39.8bn in 2022-23
TaxWatch analyses the latest Tax Gap publication, noting it has reached £40bn in 2022-23 yet still doesn’t cover offshore matters
TaxWatch’s summary of the UK General Election party manifestos
TaxWatch reflects on the party manifestos for the upcoming General Election
The uncertain future of the UK’s Digital Services Tax
TaxWatch reflects on the Liberal Democrat proposal to hike Digital Services Tax
Is HMRC fighting the right fight on avoidance schemes?
While HMRC appears to have stepped up activity against the promotion of tax avoidance arrangements, it seems that increased civil action is at best only containing the total number of schemes.
Latest Government consultation grapples with how to regulate tax advisers
TaxWatch introduces the latest Government consultation into regulating tax advice market.
TaxWatch welcomes proposals to tackle promoters of tax avoidance
Two proposals in the draft Finance Bill 2023-24 aimed at tackling promoters of tax avoidance have been welcomed by TaxWatch.