The gap in the Tax Gap
Quietly buried in HMRC spreadsheets released today is the news that the UK Tax Gap is consistently much bigger than HMRC previously said. New evidence suggests that the government may be under-estimating by several billion pounds the amount of income hidden offshore, and non-compliance amongst the largest and wealthiest taxpayers.
Starving HMRC will make it harder for Rachel Reeves to meet spending targets: TaxWatch responds to the CSR
Shrinking the £40 billion tax gap and £38 billion of outstanding tax debts is going to be critical for making today’s Spending Review numbers add up. Can HMRC deliver this with a real-term budget cut?
Donald Trump claims the UK’s Digital Services Tax overwhelmingly targets US tech giants. New data obtained by TaxWatch shows otherwise.
From the White House to the tech sector, the UK’s Digital Services Tax has been described as a discriminatory ‘tariff’ almost entirely targeting large US internet companies. New statistics show that’s not quite true.
Glass half full? Are wealthy taxpayers underpaying more tax than we thought
HMRC is recovering more missing tax from wealthy individuals. But beneath the headlines: the tax this group is underpaying may be larger than previously thought, and is likely growing, while penalties for their non-compliance have plummeted.
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.
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
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.
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.