Investigations

HMRC recovered £1.1bn tax from transfer pricing enquiries during 2013/14, double the amount collected the previous year, according to official statistics.

Financial secretary to the Treasury David Gauke claimed the increase was due to the additional funding given to the Revenue “to challenge multinational groups to ensure the rules are followed and the right tax paid”.

The specialist HMRC unit that examines pricing within multinationals has secured a total of £5.8bn in tax since being launched in 2008.

France gives okay to information-share with agencies outside HMRC

M Higgins (TC4259)

Revenue addresses evasion controversy

Audit office praises department’s approach to recommendations

Tax professionals’ views of the industry’s hottest topics

The HMRC division dedicated to investigating the affairs of affluent taxpayers collected £137.2m in additional tax in 2013/14, up from £85.7m in 2012/13, an increase of 62%, according to law firm Pinsent Masons.

Around 500,000 individuals are potential targets of the Revenue team that focuses on UK residents with an annual income in excess of £150,000 or wealth of more than £1m. They are people not deemed rich enough to be the concern of the tax department’s high net-worth unit.

The inconsistencies of HMRC’s unified system of fines

M Hunt (TC4183)

HMRC have extended the registration deadline of their contractor loan settlement opportunity.

Taxpayers now have until 30 June to notify the department that they wish to take part in the tax disclosure facility that was originally scheduled to close on 9 January.

A contractor loan scheme settlement is an arrangement in which a non-UK employer pays a worker untaxed income or a loan, instead of all or part of a salary. Individuals who take part in such a scheme may still have to pay income tax.

NS Haq (TC4192)

An accountant who grossly under-declared his income has been jailed for 16 months, after pleading guilty to seven tax fraud offences totalling in excess of £65,000.

HMRC found Stephen Douce, co-director of ACA Accountancy Services Ltd, Derby, claimed he and his wife both had an annual household income of only £4,500, when in fact he earned more than £56,000 a year.

His false self assessment submissions meant he evaded income tax and National Insurance contributions of £18,203.79 for himself and £1,591.21 for his wife.