£9bn of tax to be ‘overpaid’ by Britons this year
Study shows tax payers will on average pay £186 too much tax in 2010
Study shows tax payers will on average pay £186 too much tax in 2010
A “colossal” £9bn of tax will be overpaid by Britons this year as people fail
to take steps to the amount they pay, according to new research.
A study by Unbiased.co.uk found that people will waste:
£3.94bn in unclaimed tax credits;
£1.97bn through avoidable inheritance tax;
£742m lost through not saving money into a pension;
£516m in avoidable capital gains tax;
£442m from late or incorrectly submitted self-assessment tax returns;
£328m from failing to make use of personal allowances;
£36m in avoidable tax on savings interest.
On average every tax payer in the UK will pay £186 more than they need to,
with 86% of people doing nothing to reduce their tax burden. Despite this, it is
estimated that wastage has dropped 9% from the previous year.
“Whilst it is encouraging to see our annual tax wastage is set to go down by
9% this year, £9 billion is still a colossal amount to be lost through error and
avoidable circumstances,” said Karen Barrett, chief executive of Unbiased.co.uk.