Investigations
by HM Revenue and Customs take £3.2bn more than previous year, with one third
coming from large businesses
theguardian.com,
Press Association, Tuesday 27 May 2014
Investigations by tax inspectors have collected a record £23.9bn over the last year, according to official figures.
Exchequer secretary David Gauke said HMRC campaigns such as the one above had helped increase the tax yield. |
Investigations by tax inspectors have collected a record £23.9bn over the last year, according to official figures.
The total
was £3.2bn more than the previous year, £9bn higher than three years ago, and
nearly £1bn above the target set by the chancellor, George Osborne, in his 2013
autumn statement, HM Revenue and Customs said.
More than
£8bn was secured from large businesses, more than £1bn from criminals and
£2.7bn from tackling tax avoidance schemes in the courts, it said.
Exchequer
secretary David Gauke said: "The government supports the hard-working,
honest majority of taxpayers that play by the rules, and is determined to
tackle the minority that seek to avoid paying the taxes they owe.
"We
set HMRC ambitious targets to increase its yield and the figures published
today demonstrate that HMRC is successfully meeting these challenges. It also
sends a clear signal – HMRC will pursue those seeking to avoid their
responsibilities and will collect the taxes that are due."
Gauke told
the BBC Radio 4 Today programme a variety of things had been done to increase
the tax yield, including campaigns and better use of technology.
"The
staff of HMRC deserve credit for what they have done … the government has been
very much backing HMRC. We put in place a reinvestment programme that has
contributed to this increase in yield."
Asked about
Amazon, which paid just £4.2m in tax last year, despite selling goods worth
£4.3bn, he replied: "I don't want to be drawn into individual cases but I do
think you can't expect HMRC to collect tax that isn't in accordance with the
law. The answer is to make sure we have international reform … the UK has led
the way in that process."
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