HMRC’s failure to clamp down on rich tax dodgers is undermining confidence in the whole system, the public accounts committee said. The highly critical report released on Friday examined HMRC’s specialist unit, which collects tax from high net-worth individuals with more than £20m. In our view, HMRC is failing on both counts.”Tax officials calculated that there were about 6,500 high net-worth people in 2015-16, about one in every 5,000 taxpayers. “While calls from most taxpayers to HMRC call centres are recorded routinely, meetings and phone calls with high net-worth individuals are not recorded,” the report says. In the five years to 31 March 2016, it completed just 72 fraud investigations into high net-worth individuals, with all but two having been dealt with using its civil powers.

Source: The Guardian January 27, 2017 00:01 UTC