HMRC has beaten its target for tax investigation work by £2bn in the last year, bringing the total revenue it raised through compliance work to a new all time high, according to UHY Hacker Young.
A record £20.7bn in additional revenue was collected by HMRC through compliance work focused on tax avoidance and evasion in 2012/13 - up 11%.
Are AccountingWEB members seeing this happening on the ground?
Is HMRC tormenting the little people more?
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According to UHY Hacker Young?
Why not according to HMRC themselves? Are UHY Hacker Young privy to information not available to the rest of the accounting community?
More cash from enquiries could just as easily mean a decrease in clarity/increase in complexity of tax law as it does HMRC catching fraudsters.
I don't know what a normal level of enquiries is, but we have hardly any. When we do it tends to be where a SA100 hasn't matched up with some other HMRC records (eg P11D info from previous role missed off, or client telling us they'd repaid their student loan when HMRC disagreed).
Just One
I've just got one at the moment - first for ages - which will probably end up with some face-saving deal on private motoring.
They picked this gentleman out for three reasons
1. Purge on scrap dealers - no, he isn't
2. Low drawings - apart from his reduced tax bill, much the same as last year
3. Low rental income - now agreed fair rents
I could have sorted all this out with a phone call but, once it's started, the machine rumbles on.
We picked up a client who had a compliance check
The HMRC officer initially disallowed genuine business expenses. We are fighting his corner, but how many non-represented tax payers just pay up whatever tax HMRC ask for? The impression I got from the original officers is that they after the highest amount of tax, not the correct amount of tax. It's gone to ADR now.
See here for more info:
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/question/snotty-hmrc-letter
Impact of penalty changes
Toughening up on penalties alone should see a significant bump in HMRC income.
Timing of tax claims
I am involved with a HNW individual and all tax claims, particularly losses, are being closely scrutinised not only for there validity but also for the timing of the claim on the SA return.
Following the Cotter case the individual is now faced with a surcharge of some £400k plus interest as a loss claim may have been made at an earlier date than should have possibly been the case.