Exclusive: HMRC’s elite Offshore unit securing prison time for tax evaders trebled last year July 29, 2021 HMRC’s elite Offshore, Corporate and Wealthy (OCW) Unit secured convictions totalling 67 years of prison time for tax evaders last year, nearly trebling the total of just 23 years secured a year earlier. The increase in prison sentences is a sign that HMRC’s strategy of using targeted criminal investigations, rather than just civil penalties, as a [...]
Exclusive: Sharp drop in fines against finance directors as HMRC has ‘bigger fish to fry’ July 20, 2021 The number of penalties issued personally to finance directors at large businesses by HMRC has dropped from 148 to just 20 in a year, according to new data, shared with City A.M. today. Law firm Pinsent Masons said that much of the fall in the number of fines against finance directors is due to HMRC [...]
Benefit fraud and overpayments hit record £8.3bn during pandemic July 15, 2021 Fraud and error overpayments in the benefits system were pushed to record levels last year, largely because of bogus Universal Credit claims during the coronavirus pandemic. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimates it overpaid £8.3bn (7.5 per cent) out of £111.4bn of benefits other than the state pension in 2020-21, an increase of [...]
Exclusive: Businesses overpaying corporation tax up by 26 per cent to record £11.5bn July 12, 2021 Businesses claimed back a record £11.5bn in overpaid corporation tax from HMRC last year, a jump of 26 per cent from £9.1bn the year before, according to data by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, shared with City A.M. this afternoon. The firm stressed it is “extremely likely” that these refunds are merely “the tip of [...]
HMRC yet to win a single prosecution that’s used an account freezing order July 8, 2021 HMRC yet to win a single prosecution that used an account freezing order
HMRC launches 13,000 investigations into potential Covid support scheme fraud June 28, 2021 The UK tax authority has opened almost 13,000 probes into businesses that may have abused the government’s coronavirus business support schemes. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is investigating potential fraud and other non-compliance with the rules for the use of the government’s furlough programme, self employment income support scheme, and the “eat out to help [...]
Whitehall shakeup: 22,000 roles may be moved out of London and external candidates for senior roles June 15, 2021 The government will today launch a reform programme that will see wide-scale reforms to the civil service, with jobs being moved out of Whitehall and senior jobs open to external candidates. The reforms include moving 22,000 civil servant roles outside of London by 2030, including 50 per cent of senior servant roles, and advertising all [...]
HMRC’s fraud hotline inundated with 91,000 calls in first nine months of pandemic May 6, 2021 HMRC’s fraud hotline received more than 91,000 calls during the first nine months of the pandemic, with concerns about furlough fraud likely to be behind many of the calls. On average 10,000 calls per month were made to HMRC’s hotline from April to December 2020, according to HMRC figures, an increase of around 1,000 calls [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Taxman cometh for football (again); BT Sport; Simone Biles; social media boycott; and NHS x NFL draft April 29, 2021 HMRC has cashed in by increasing scrutiny of the football industry, so perhaps it should be no surprise that the taxman has begun a new crackdown on players and clubs. Investigations into footballers almost tripled in 2019-20, while those concerning clubs more than doubled. The result was an increase from £35m to £73m in tax [...]
Furlough cash: Businesses repay £760m as HMRC cracks down on fraudsters April 26, 2021 A total of 3,777 businesses have repaid over £760m in furlough grants to HMRC, according to new data shared with City A.M. this afternoon. Since the introduction of the furlough scheme in March 2020, £53.8bn has been claimed by employers as it protected over 11m employees, said accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, who compiled the [...]