HMRC has accelerated its risk-based anti-avoidance strategy with two new taskforces targeting electricians and property transactions in Greater London.
HMRC will launch the Electricians Tax Safe Plan in February 2012 and will be applicable to anyone installing, maintaining and testing electrical systems, equipment and appliances under stringent safety regulations.
A HMRC spokesperson said: “This is part of an ongoing programme focusing on tradespeople. We hold a lot of information and intelligence on this group so it’s a good place to start.”
The taskforce for property transactions, launched today, will target cases where there has been a deliberate failure to comply with the Option To Tax regime and will conduct full cross-tax reviews of the businesses involved, according to HMRC.
Neil Hedger, HMRC's London taskforce team leader, said: “This taskforce will come down hard on commercial companies that have chosen to break the rules and deliberately evade the taxes they should be paying.”
As part of its ongoing risk-based anti-avoidance strategy, HMRC has targeted restaurants, scrap dealers and second home owners as some of those it suspects significant underpayment of tax take place. AccountingWEB has compiled a full list of all sectors targeted in our
taskforce tracker.