A RECORD AMOUNT of unpaid tax has been recovered by HM Revenue & Customs from avoidance schemes, evasion and fraud, according to law firm Pinsent Masons.
The compliance yield from the taxman’s specialist investigations team hit £3.65bn in 2013/14, up by almost 25% on the £2.97bn in 2012/13, making it its best haul to date.
The UK’s tax gap currently stands at £34bn, making the specialist team’s yield worth more than 10% of the shortfall.
Pinsent Masons tax director Paul Noble said: “These figures should be a massive jolt to anyone with undisclosed or outstanding tax liabilities that have given them significant savings. HMRC has been recruiting and training heavily in order to increase the activity of its specialist investigations team.
“HMRC is not only better equipped than ever before to chase down those it suspects of unfairly avoiding their fair share of tax, it’s also far more uncompromising in how it conducts its investigations and far more hard-nosed when it comes settling cases.”