MPs accuse HMRC of failing to deal with corporate tax avoiders
MPs claim that smaller, less powerful, businesses get tougher treatment than big corporates on their tax affairs
MPs HAVE AGAIN accused the taxman of failing to get to grips with collecting the right tax from large businesses.
In another heated Public Accounts Committee hearing with HMRC, ministers said that the taxman found it easier to target smaller businesses – those that can’t leave the country.
HMRC chief executive Lin Homer (pictured) said that multinationals were able to choose where they based their business, and the taxman applied the rules to tax them as it could.
Of the 770 large companies operating within the UK, around half have their base outside of the island, often in jurisdictions with lower corporate tax rates.
At the same time as the PAC hearing, a joint statement by the UK and Germany urged global cooperation to stamp out profit-shifting and other techniques for large business to lower its tax bills.
A full analysis of the PAC hearing will follow soon on Accountancy Age.