None of us enjoy paying tax, but most of us accept it as a necessary evil to maintain a functioning society. Nothing rankles more than finding out that some people have managed to avoid paying their fair share – yet still enjoy the services that the rest of us are funding. It’s great to know that HMRC’s tax cheat ‘taskforces’ are working successfully to correct this injustice.
HMRC’s increased financial investment in tax evasion and fraud ‘taskforces’ has put over £500 million back into the public purse. Every tax year, their combined annual figure for recouped tax payments has grown.
| Caught! Tax Cheaters’ Repayment Chart | |
| £24.3 million | 2011 – 2012 |
| £47 million | 2012 – 2013 |
| £85 million | 2013 – 2014 |
| £138.1 million | 2014 – 2015 |
| £248 million | 2015 – 2016 |
HMRC are understandably proud of their huge success, as expressed by the Director-General for Enforcement and Compliance, Jennie Granger: “The message is clear: if you try to cheat on your income tax, we are going to catch you. A small number of people still think they can cheat the tax system; these figures prove we can track them down and take back what they owe. We have increasing levels of intelligence, and use state-of-the-art digital tools to help us to identify and target high-risk areas.”
The taskforces comprise members of assorted HMRC enforcement and compliance teams. Each one focuses on a particular place and/or ‘sector’ that is deemed to be most likely to be involved in tax evasion and fraud. Full investigations and extensive scrutiny of financial records are part and parcel of their remit. Some of the previously targeted ‘sectors’ are the adult entertainment, tobacco and retail industries.
It is clear from the figures that the almost 50 new taskforces introduced last year have had a considerable impact. One Income Tax taskforce managed to secure 45 arrests for tax evasion and fraud in 2015! Last year, hidden wealth, property and partnerships were just some of the new areas pinpointed for HMRC teams to investigate. The total amount of recouped tax for that year almost doubled as a result! Long may their success continue.
