Accountancy Today reports that HMRC has launched 137,000 tax investigations in the six months to December 2021, up 9% from the 126,000 investigations in the same period last year, according to tax investigation insurance experts PfP.
This means that HMRC opened the equivalent of 1,062 tax investigations per day over the period.
It comes as HMRC is “ramping up” its compliance activity as it looks to make up for revenue lost during the pandemic. Until recently it had been exercising a “considerable degree of forbearance towards individuals and businesses falling behind on their tax affairs”.
In addition, HMRC will now be allocating more resources to investigations as staff previously working on pandemic programmes such as furlough are freed up for other duties.
It forms part of HMRC’s effort to make up for the loss to the taxpayer from pandemic-related fraud and error, which the Public Accounts Committee recently estimated to amount to £15bn.
In light of this HMRC is also likely to push for harsher penalties, according to PfP, while late payment interest increased this month from 2.75% to 3%.
Bevan Buckland LLP partners with PfP to provide insurance against the cost of HMRC investigations and provide our clients with peace of mind.
For more information about how we can help you with a Tax Investigation, please contact us on 01792 410100 alternately email mail@bevanbuckland.co.uk
Original article here: HMRC tax investigations hit 137,000 in second half of 2021 – Accountancy Today