The National Audit Office has reviewed the Taxman’s performance in delivering improvements in its tax “Compliance and Enforcement Programme”:   its plan to bring in more money from investigations into tax evasion and tax avoidance.

What was the Result?
The tax inspectors collected £4.32 billion of additional “yield” (i.e. extra tax, interest and penalties) in tax investigations between 2006 and 2011.  It also forecasts an additional £8.87 billion of yield from more tax enquiries between 2011/12 and 2014/15.

HMRC has introduced new IT capabilities to identify incidences of tax evasion more effectively, although it is not yet exploiting the full potential of the new systems.

The Tax Compliance and Enforcement Programme cost £387 million to 2011/12 and was made up of over 40 projects (e.g. the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, the Swiss Tax Agreement, the Offshore Coordination Unit, various Tax Investigation Taskforces).

The NAO said: “This major programme has helped HMRC to increase tax yield substantially and has introduced ways of working which will strengthen HMRC’s compliance work in future”.

What does this mean for me?
If you are undergoing a tax investigation, or have tax irregularities which you would like to disclose to HMRC – so as to regularise your affairs and avoid prosecution, then Lynam Tax Enquiry Experts can help you.

For an initially free and wholly confidential discussion: phone Paul Lynam now on 0845 643 9997