HMRC Nets GBP1bn From Anti-Avoidance Work
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has used its Accelerated Payments powers to collect GBP1bn (USD710m) from users of tax avoidance schemes.
HMRC began sending Accelerated Payment Notices (APNs) to UK users of certain tax avoidance schemes in August 2014. The notices give recipients 90 days to pay the tax in question. APNs may be received by taxpayers who use a tax avoidance scheme disclosed by the promoter under the UK’s disclosure of tax avoidance schemes (DOTAS) rules. Disclosed schemes are assigned a scheme reference number, which can be used by the taxpayer to check HMRC’s online list of schemes to determine whether they could be liable to pay tax upfront while the scheme is challenged by HMRC.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said: “The Government will not tolerate tax avoidance and Accelerated Payments has been a real game changer. It is no longer possible for these individuals to avoid tax and sit on the money while their affairs are investigated. This first GBP1bn received in Accelerated Payments shows that we are turning the tables on those looking to avoid paying their fair share.
Jennie Granger, HMRC’s Director General for Enforcement and Compliance, added: “Tax avoiders are running out of options. People now have to pay upfront and dispute later. We are winning around 80 percent of avoidance cases that people litigate. And many more are settling before litigation.”
More than 25,000 APNs have been issued since August 2014. HMRC expects to have issued around 64,000 APNs by the end of 2016 and to have collected GBP5.5bn in payments by March 2020. Last month, HMRC won a legal challenge concerning the legality of the Accelerated Payments regime.
