Payroll enquiries’ yield rises

HMRC collected £819m in additional tax through payroll investigations in 2016-17 up 16% on 2015-16 (£705m). The sum generated by the department solely from large businesses generated £503m up 31% from £383m in the previous year.

According to Pinsent Masons as the gig economy has developed HMRC has stepped up the intensity of investigations into businesses that it believes are using hidden employees.

Paul Noble head of tax investigations at the law firm said: ‘HMRC has made no secret of its suspicions of how companies classify their workers. Considering the scale that the gig economy has grown to it is no surprise that it is now under intense scrutiny by HMRC.

‘As well as its broader brush investigations in which HMRC aims to collect millions at a time it is also combing carefully through the minor details of payroll. Even the most...