Tax taskforces bring in more than £100m in six months

by Susie Hughes at 15:44 03/11/15 (News on Business)

Tax taskforces have brought in £109 million in the last six months as part of HMRC's targeted crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion.

That figure includes £64.9 million recovered in the first three months of this year, more than double the figure for the same period in 2014. Between April and October 2015, HMRC launched 27 new taskforces targeting sectors that it considers are at the highest risk of tax fraud, including Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) Repayments, Retail, Hidden Wealth and Grocery sectors, with one taskforce alone generating 22 arrests. Taskforces Taskforces were first launched in Spring 2011 as part of HMRC’s compliance strategy to tackle tax evasion and fraud. Over 100 taskforces have been launched since then yielding more than £404 million. Advertisement They often adopt a high profile 'carrot and stick' approach. A particular sector or location is targeted and tax payers within it are given a time period to come forward to regulate their affairs on beneficial grounds - with the threat that if they are later caught, the penalties will be much more sever. Jennie Granger, Director General for Enforcement and Compliance at HMRC, said: “The message is clear if you try to cheat on your tax we are going to catch you – it’s only fair that we all pay what we should to fund public services. "We have increasing amounts of intelligence, and are using state of the art digital tools to help us to identify and target high risk areas. This yield of £109 million – almost double the figure for the same period in 2014 - shows that our strategy is working.” Tweet -- If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'. - Susie Hughes © Shout99 2015

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