Taxman waives fines for million Brits unwittingly caught in anti-money laundering crackdown April 29, 2022 The UK taxman has said it is waiving fines for those who unwittingly faced penalties for failing to list any trusts they own on anti-money laundering registers. Her Majesty’s Revenues & Customs’ (HMRC’s) decision to waive the penalties comes in the midst of a major anti-money laundering crackdown, which saw the introduction of new rules [...]
Tax paid by Brits on at least £150k skyrockets as ‘fiscal drag’ makes HMRC increasingly lean on high income taxpayers April 20, 2022 The total income tax paid by high earners making £150,000 or more has increased by 77 per cent in the last decade, reaching £60.9bn in the 2019-20 tax year, up from £34.5bn in 2010-11, according to data that was shared with City A.M. Over the same period the total tax take from basic rate taxpayers [...]
The City’s Purple Pay called out by HMRC for promoting tax avoidance April 7, 2022 The City’s Purple Pay has been named and shamed by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for promoting tax avoidance schemes. The taxman has revealed the names of companies which have promoted schemes to avoid paying tax for the first time today, warning users that they could face “large tax bills” unless they withdraw from them. [...]
Exclusive: HMRC to crack down on cabbies and taxi drivers with new tax checks before licence renewal April 4, 2022 HMRC is launching a crackdown on taxi drivers, mini cab drivers and scrap metal merchants from April, with the introduction of new tax evasion checks, City A.M. has been told. The introduction of a number of new tax evasion checks will allow HMRC to further scrutinise workers in what it sees as ‘high risk’ sectors [...]
On HMRC’s radar: Number of ‘nudge’ letters for offshore income or gains shoots up to nearly 177,000 March 28, 2022 Information obtained from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) reveals that HMRC has to date issued nearly 177,000 so-called “nudge” letters in respect of offshore income or gains since they started the practice with less than a thousand in the 2016/17 tax year. This is thought to be the first time that HMRC has released public [...]
Pandemic leads to major spike in whistleblowers turning to SFO to report alleged fraud March 14, 2022 The pandemic has led to a near 20 per cent rise in whistleblower reports about alleged fraud. Workers may have falsified accounts to cover up theft or inflated sales figures in a bid to achieve bonuses during the pandemic, a new report by consultancy firm Accuracy has found. There was a 17 per cent rise [...]
HMRC action yields £0 in half of all tax probes but taxman hits back: ‘We are not driven solely by money’ March 8, 2022 HMRC investigations into individuals and small businesses last year yielded no returns in nearly half of of all cases, according to new research shared with City A.M. this afternoon. The proportion of investigations which returned no money to the Treasury has risen by over a third, to 47 per cent last year up from 31 [...]
Security fears as HMRC loses nearly 1,500 electronic devices over past five years February 23, 2022 HMRC has reported 1,491 electronic devices lost or stolen over the past five years, according to official figures. The data, retrieved via the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and analysed by the Parliament Street think tank, observed the number of mobile phones, laptops and tablets lost or stolen over the past five years, each year from [...]
UK paid more tax on alcohol and cigarettes than stamp duty during the pandemic February 22, 2022 New analysis has revealed how the pandemic influenced tax growth across the UK, as HMRC received more from Alcohol and Tobacco duties during the 2020/21 tax year than they did for stamp duty. RIFT Tax Refunds’ data on the total receipts received by HMRC during the first full pandemic tax year of 2020 to 2021 [...]
HMRC rakes in £50bn thanks to new business taxes February 21, 2022 New research released today has revealed that HMRC has collected more than £50bn from firms in the last decade thanks to eight new business taxes. According to data from Thomson Reuters, in the past year alone, eight new taxes raised a total of £7.2bn from businesses, including £300m from its newest tax, the Soft Drinks [...]