HMRC secures record tax revenues by cracking down on tax dodgers

27 May 2014 02:27 PM

The record breaking £23.9 billion tax revenue comes as HMRC publishes ‘HMRC fast facts: Record compliance revenues for the UK.’ 

New figures published today (Tuesday 27 May) show that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) secured a record £23.9 billion in additional tax revenue over the last year as a result of increased activity to make sure people pay the taxes they owe.

The additional tax – the tax that HMRC secures as a result of its investigations, on top of the tax collected from those who pay their taxes on time – is up £3.2 billion on the previous year, up £9 billion on three years ago and nearly £1billion above the target set at Autumn Statement 2013.

More than £8 billion has been secured from large business, over £1billion from criminals and £2.7billion from tackling avoidance schemes in the courts. HMRC’s compliance activity has resulted in a number of tribunal wins, and also seen corporation tax and stamp duty land tax loopholes closed, protecting the Exchequer from tax going unpaid.

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said:

The government supports the hardworking, honest majority of taxpayers that play by the rules, and is determined to tackle the minority that seek to avoid paying the taxes they owe.

We set HMRC ambitious targets to increase its yield and the figures published today demonstrate that HMRC is successfully meeting these challenges.

It also sends a clear signal – HMRC will pursue those seeking to avoid their responsibilities and will collect the taxes that are due.

The record breaking tax revenue comes as HMRC publishes ‘HMRC fast facts: Record compliance revenues for the UK.’

Providing an overview of HMRC’s compliance activities, the document highlights the actions HMRC has already taken to tackle tax avoidance. This includes launching taskforces, publishing the details of deliberate and serious defaulters and challenging tax avoidance through the courts.

It also provides information on future steps as the tax authority continues its fight against those who try to cheat the system.

This includes tackling high-risk promoters, tackling employment and offshore tax avoidance and issuing accelerated payments for users of tax avoidance schemes.