Taxman misses out on £27.4bn, claims report
Taxpayers Alliance-IoD report flags up HMRC's missed billions
Taxpayers Alliance-IoD report flags up HMRC's missed billions
THE TAXMAN has lost out on £27.4bn of tax in the past five years, according to a new report.
The report identified that HMRC missed out on £5.9bn in 2010-11, the Taxpayers’ Alliance-Institute of Directors report found.
The study collated data around write-offs and debts deemed not worth pursuing on the grounds of value for money or official error.
“Taxes are a challenge to administer and a burden on families and we need systematic reform to produce a simpler tax code,” said Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
“Some of this uncollected tax will be down to the recession but there is clearly a long-term problem as well. Tax shouldn’t be so taxing that even HMRC can’t keep on top of it.”
An HMRC spokesman said: “HMRC has not given up any tax that is legally owed and collects 99% of debt that is due. 90% of money owed to HMRC that is written off is caused by company liquidations and HMRC is legally barred from collecting that debt.
“However, the amount of remissions and write offs have fallen by nearly £2bn over the last year. Tax write-offs have nothing to do with errors in the tax system, they are mainly due to insolvency and other situations where it is not possible to pursue the debt.”
More about:
In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...
View resourceIn recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...
View resourceIn a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...
View resourceThe first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...
View resourceAs the Spring Budget approaches, dissenters of the UK government’s increasingly complex contractor legislation are baying for change. HMRC has already...
View articleStricter controls on VAT compliance is set to shut down the “colossal” VAT tax gap. Read More...
View articleThere has been a percentage increase in the number of claims made by companies, but more needs to be done Read More...
View articleThe Targeted Anti-Avoidance Rule was introduced to prevent individuals lowering their tax liability by converting what would otherwise be a dividend i...
View articleIn 2016-17, the average length of time to settle a tax investigation rose to 34 months, up from 31 months in 2015-16. The tax authority has also incre...
View articleDiverted profits tax revenue collected by HMRC in 2016-17 totalled £281m, leaping from £31m collected in the previous year, according to data released...
View articleThe report suggests a wide range of reforms focussed on bringing together corporation tax and accounts, including creating five year roadmap for CT re...
View articleIn 2012, HMRC made 591 requests to foreign governments. In 2016, this number stood at 1096, a 7% increase on 1025 requests made in 2015 Read More...
View article