Tax crackdown sees improved results

26 Jan 2015

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) raised over £137 million from additional rate taxpayers in 2014.

A specialist HMRC division called the Affluent Unit was set up in 2011 to focus on tax avoidance of those with personal wealth of £1 million. Last year the division recruited 100 more tax inspectors, which helped increase revenues from £85.7 million in 2013.

Law firm Pincent Masons released the report which detailed the division’s results. Head of Litigation and Compliance, James Bullock, said: ‘This surge in extra revenue from Affluent Unit tax investigations serves as a reminder that HMRC is widening the lines of inquiry.

‘People who would just consider themselves moderately successful professionals and business people are now also coming under the scrutiny of HMRC’s specialist units’.

An estimated 500,000 UK residents are now under scrutiny as additional rate taxpayers. Official tax gap figures show a £35 billion deficit between what HMRC expects to collect in tax and what is actually collected.