The move will form part of the £900m assault on tax evasion, avoidance and fraud announced by George Osborne, chancellor, in this week’s spending review, aimed at boosting tax revenues by £7bn a year. This will include a fivefold increase in the number of criminal prosecutions for tax evasion by HM Revenue & Customs, Osborne said.
Targeting specific professionals follows a tax amnesty deal offered to doctors and dentists this year which HMRC described as “very productive”. People who came forward under the deal were offered a reduced penalty of 10 per cent of the tax owed as well as having to pay the original tax and interest on that sum. It resulted in 1,500 disclosures of untaxed earnings that yielded a total of £9m. One case raised £1.2m alone.
An HMRC official said: “This is a good model that we’re looking at taking forward. Amnesties cost us next to nothing.”
These targeted initiatives could obtain significant sums from individuals, including “professionals [who] should know better”, he added.
A dedicated team of investigators to catch individuals hiding money offshore is also being created to scrutinise financial records.
So far, amnesties aimed at offshore accountholders have raised only £500m, but an ongoing offer to very wealthy people with offshore accounts in Liechtenstein aims to raise about £1bn. More than 90 of those people have already come forward, HMRC said.
Buy-to-let investors are seen as less of a priority in the clampdown, partly because any sums of unpaid tax are generally relatively small.
Source
He estimated that of the £7bn of extra tax revenue sought by HMRC in the chancellor’s clampdown, it could be seeking about £2bn from the wealthy.
Targeting specific professionals follows a tax amnesty deal offered to doctors and dentists this year which HMRC described as “very productive”. People who came forward under the deal were offered a reduced penalty of 10 per cent of the tax owed as well as having to pay the original tax and interest on that sum. It resulted in 1,500 disclosures of untaxed earnings that yielded a total of £9m. One case raised £1.2m alone.
An HMRC official said: “This is a good model that we’re looking at taking forward. Amnesties cost us next to nothing.”
These targeted initiatives could obtain significant sums from individuals, including “professionals [who] should know better”, he added.
A dedicated team of investigators to catch individuals hiding money offshore is also being created to scrutinise financial records.
So far, amnesties aimed at offshore accountholders have raised only £500m, but an ongoing offer to very wealthy people with offshore accounts in Liechtenstein aims to raise about £1bn. More than 90 of those people have already come forward, HMRC said.
Buy-to-let investors are seen as less of a priority in the clampdown, partly because any sums of unpaid tax are generally relatively small.
Source
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