Effect of removing taxpayers from self assessment

For reasons I shall explain I have been nerdily perusing the detailed explanation of the ‘tax gap’ calculation (tinyurl.com/252y4w2s). It struck me that HMRC’s list of the components of the perceived shortfall in revenue have something in common. Avoidance criminal attacks error evasion failure to take reasonable care hidden economy legal interpretation and non-payment – eight deadly sins all of them the fault of taxpayers or their devious advisers. I wonder if HMRC should have a look in the mirror and notice some of the department’s own contributions to making it harder to pay the right tax.

I have been aware of HMRC’s annual report on the tax gap for some years and have always wondered: how do you measure something that isn’t there? Recent Taxation articles (‘Who’s the target?’ by Gideon Sanitt Sophie Rind and Victoria Braid...