Wealthy tax cheats
with overseas property are now being targeted by a new 200-strong
team of investigators and specialists, HM Revenue &
Customs (HMRC) announced today.
The newly-formed team started work this month, bringing together
experts from across the department who will use new and innovative
risk assessment techniques to identify areas where wealthy
individuals are avoiding and evading taxes and duties.
One of the first groups being targeted is wealthy individuals who
own land and property abroad. Sophisticated data mining techniques
have been applied to publicly available information to identify
individuals who own property abroad. HMRC risk assessment tools
are then being used to highlight those people who do not appear
able legitimately to afford the property, as well as those who do
not appear to be declaring the correct income and gains from the property.
Other work currently planned involves commodity traders and
people holding offshore accounts. Much of this work will be
undertaken in co-ordination with other teams from across HMRC,
including those who deal with corporate entities, residence and
domicile issues, and trusts and estates. Further details will be
announced in due course.
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said:
“The Government is committed to tackling tax evasion and
avoidance across all areas of the economy. That is why we
allocated HMRC £917m to reduce the tax gap over the next four
years in the last Spending Review. This new team is part of that investment.
“With HMRC’s increased capability and expertise, and its
increasing success in tackling evasion both at home and offshore,
the message is clear: there is no hiding place for tax cheats.”
Notes for editors
1. The new HMRC “affluent team” was announced by Chief Secretary
to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, on 18 September 2011.
2. Follow HMRC on Twitter @HMRCgovuk.
NAT 84/11
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