Grassing up
We are told that 74,000 calls were made
to HMRC's tip off-line in 2011, reporting suspected tax evaders. That
is apparently rather fewer calls than were made in 2010.
I would like to see all dishonest
tax-dodgers caught. The so-called black economy consisting of people
who offer to re-lay your drive or clean your house soffits and fascias
for cash and all the other “cash-in-hand” people who knock on
your door cost the country billions in lost tax. Dave Hartnett banged
on about this, I remember. He was right in that respect.
Burst water mains
The tax leakage through dishonest
tradespeople is very likely much larger than the (legal) avoidance by
large corporates and the illegal VAT fraudsters
though I am always very pleased when tax crooks are caught and
sentenced. Even the driveway-laying tax evaders can apparently get
large scale.
Most of the 74,000 tip-offs will relate
to small scale tax-evasion though in aggregate there will be a large
amount of tax lost. That is tax stolen from honest taxpayers' back
pockets, considering that the rest of us have to make up the deficit
caused by the fiddlers.
Resources
What concerns me about the tip-off line
is HMRC's resources to deal with the information received. They may
have the profiling software, but the false and malicious allegations
will need to be weeded out and then the others followed up.
Logically, it would be easier to concentrate on the bigger fish
because the potential tax recovery would be greater. With any
investment in business, the yield is important because it means more profit,
even when we are talking about HMRC. Apparently they lack resources even in
that area.
HMRC have “task-force” campaign
around specific types of businesses
but it seems to me this is just nibbling around the edges. I think
that, coupled with the profiling software, more well-trained and
preferably experienced staff should be taken on. That is anathema to
those on high who want to see further staff cuts in Government
departments, but potentially the yield should justify the investment
costs.
If HMRC want experienced tax people with noses for weeding out the crooks, maybe they should hire some
tax practitioners from the private sector. I could make myself
available on a part-time basis if I had a suitable offer (I mean
it) but my point is that experience in real tax issues is what HMRC
requires to sniff out smaller-scale tax evasion. Unfortunately with
the cuts and early retirements, experience is what HMRC staff lack.
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