Ten ways HMRC is catching tax cheats
7 Jul 17
Recent high-profile wins against tax evaders prove that when it comes to cracking down on tax dodgers, HMRC is serious about stepping up not only its surveillance but also about finding innovative ways of catching out tax cheats. Here are some the methods the UK tax office employs.
HMRC believes it loses billions of pounds every year as a result of the hidden economy.
To tackle the problem of people either hiding all their income or parts of it, the UK tax office has been encouraging recalcitrant taxpayers to come forward, it is seeking new sources of information and investigating other ways of encouraging third parties to help its crackdown.
In the past, it focused on specific trades and professions, such as plumbers, solicitors and doctors. More recently, it has launched campaigns targeting specific types of income that might be relevant to big swaths of the population, such as buy-to-let rental income and income from second.
One idea will be to create a public register for landlords, not only to improve rental property conditions but also to helps HMRC, which considering making registration for tax a condition of acquiring a licence.
Tags: Beneficial Ownership | CRS | HMRC | Tax Evasion
