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DVLA given access to the Revenue’s VAT systems
HMRC have unveiled their new anti-evasion initiative with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), two years after it was proposed to clamp down on organised crime.
The collaborative project – part of Budget 2011 and launched this week – is intended to stop criminals, who often work in gangs, from bringing cars and other road vehicles into the UK without paying VAT.
The DVLA will be able to use the Revenue’s new digital system to ensure the correct sales tax has been paid on vehicles before they are registered for use in this country.
The tie-up between the two government agencies, to be known as Notification of Vehicle Arrivals (NOVA), replaces the manual procedures that saw people dealing separately with the VAT and vehicle registration.
VAT evasion from the importing of vehicles costs the Exchequer around £110m a year, according to HMRC. The department’s Sally Beggs, deputy director for VAT fraud, said, “Criminal gangs abused the old system in the past by bringing vehicles into the UK and registering them with the DVLA without accounting for VAT. That stops today.”
“Any attempt to cheat the system will stall,” she added.
