HMRC has gathered back some £21 billion from its efforts following up on those that fail to pay or pay an incorrect amount of tax. There has been rigorous focus on more than 30 company sectors such as lawyers, on-line traders (including small business ebay retailers) and the construction industry.
This was a third more than the £16 billion it managed to recoup in the previous years tax gathering, it has been said that HMRC’s more hard-line strategy is clearly being reflected in these numbers. In a further effort, the ‘tax-man’ has released an increased strategy to warn those evading tax and has announced schemes to allow those which are late to pay some extra time in which to file returns and make up for any missing payments.
This comes at a time when the public is actually genuinely interested in corporate tax evasion, huge figures such as Starbucks, Google, Vodafone, Amazon UK and others are being called-out as ‘tax-dodgers’ even spurring groups such as UK Uncut to spring up to try and force their corporate hand into their corporate wallets.
The strategy, which includes public promotion and advertising of the schemes, is another aspect of HMRC’s focused strategy to get individuals to pay the right quantity of tax and do so at the right time.
Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, commented:
“Most people play by the rules and pay what they owe, but HMRC is cracking down on those who don’t. Using the £917 million the Government has made available to tackle avoidance, evasion and fraud, HMRC is closing in on tax cheats.”
Part of this push includes a new website – www.gov.uk/sortmytax – set up to help those who want to pay the appropriate tax.
HMRC’s competitive strategy to prevent tax avoidance led to nearly a two-thirds increase of the earnings it produced from research of submitted into self assessments of the 2011-2012 tax year.
Previously reports from October had stated that the Revenue obtained £268m in the 2010-2011 tax season in contrast to £440m in the last tax year. As always, we here at How To Close Company, we highly advise that you keep abreast of your company’s financial well-being and ensure you stay on top of tax.
If you need any further assistance, remember that we’re here to help and offer 30 minutes free business consultation for struggling business owners.
Just call 0845 409 4471 and see is we can help you.
