The British taxman must be laughing after having collected an extra £1billion by taking a closer look at middle class professionals, such as barristers, solicitors, and accountants.
New figures show 2,650 people were prosecuted in the last four years for failing to pay tax, including “very high profile barristers, accountants and lawyers”, according to HM Revenue and Customs.
It won 80% of cases taken to court in those four years, with a cumulative total of 2,700 years in prison by prosecuting evaders.
Last year, a record £23.9 billion in tax was collected. This was £3.2 billion more than the previous year and £9 billion more than three years ago.
The increased amounts, nearly £1 billion more than set by the Chancellor’s 2013 statement, underscore HMRC’s determination to lift every stone to see if a tax avoider is hiding.
More than £8 billion has been wrested from the pockets of large business, over £1 billion from criminals and £2.7 billion from tackling avoidance schemes in the courts.
The taxman is not going to let up and global transparency is virtually on the doorstep.
HMRC has been giving sharp attention to offshore issues lately and now has many ways to identify offshore income.
Within the next few years, automatic information exchange will mean that banks and financial institutions around the world will tell HMRC about UK residents’ accounts and assets.
Some 50 countries have already signed up, including many former tax havens.
