evasion

HMRC will receive an extra three quarters of a million pounds to fund their ongoing fight against tax dodging, the chancellor announced this afternoon.

The move to combat non-compliance and criminal activity was welcomed by the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC), which represents the taxman’s senior staff members. The union’s president, Tony Wallace, claimed the £750m injection “will yield a significant dividend for the country”.

HMRC casting net wider, warns legal expert

PAC also critical of reliefs cost data

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.

Horses’ mobile homes are the latest target for HMRC investigators in their efforts to weed out tax evaders, experts have warned.

The Revenue suspects that some farmers and other rural concerns dishonestly claim luxury horseboxes as business expenses, according to accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, while other countryside firms fail to declare personal use of the vehicles, to dodge tax on benefits in kind.

Tax experts back department against PAC report

The 2012/13 tax gap was £34bn, or 6.8% of tax liabilities, according to newly released HMRC figures, which show a small rise on the £33bn (6.6%) in the previous year (revised down from an initial £35bn).