HMRC slammed over VAT fraud
Public Accounts Committee slams HMRC over VAT and fuel duty losses
HM Revenue & Customs has been criticised by the House of Commons Public
Accounts Committee for not doing enough to measure the effectiveness of its
compliance strategy in improving receipts from traders.
The PAC said there was a programme of activities designed to reduce VAT
losses, some aimed at improving general compliance, but no timely and accurate
measurement of their impact.
Fraud from fuel duty and VAT last year amounted to £13bn the PAC report
found; a figure that is three times the size of benefit fraud and roughly
equivalent to the entire annual budget for the Home Office.
However, the report found that HMRC had reduced the level of VAT fraud from
15.8% of all VAT collected to 12.9%.