Questions
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated annual cost to the state of tax avoidance schemes currently undertaken by (a) companies, and (b) individuals, which have been notified to HM Revenue and Customs under the Tax Avoidance Disclosure Regime; and when will these loopholes be closed. [HL1752]
The most recent estimates of tax avoidance are set out in the HMRC publications Measuring the Tax Gap 2009 and Protecting Tax Revenues 2009. These estimate that total avoidance accounted for around 17.5 per cent of the UK net tax gap of £40 billion in the latest year for which figures are available. Separate estimates are not available for avoidance relating to disclosed schemes undertaken by companies or individuals.
The disclosure regime provides vital intelligence on avoidance, which helps the Government to act swiftly to close down schemes where necessary. Since 2004 the Government have legislated to close down over £12 billion in avoidance opportunities using intelligence provided by the regime. At the 2009 Pre-Budget Report the Government announced consultation on a package of measures to further strengthen the disclosure rules, including the introduction of enhanced penalties, a requirement for promoters to provide lists of their clients, and amendments and additions to the “hallmarks” which describe disclosable schemes. These will help ensure that the disclosure regime keeps pace with the market and continues to be effective in protecting tax revenues against artificial tax avoidance schemes.
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated annual cost to the state of tax evasion by (a) individuals, and (b) companies. [HL1753]
HMRC does not have an estimate of the cost of tax evasion broken down by individuals and companies.
At PBR 2009 HMRC published an estimate that tax losses due to evasion account for approximately 17.5 per cent of the overall tax gap. This information is available in Protecting Tax Revenues 2009 which can be found at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2009/protect-tax-revenue-5450.pdf. HMRC estimates that the overall tax gap was £40 billion in 2007-08. This estimate includes losses from error, non-payment and artificial avoidance as well as deliberate evasion. This information is published in Measuring Tax Gaps 2009, which can be found at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/measurinq-tax-gaps.pdf and is available in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much tax they anticipate recovering as a result of investigations for (a) tax evasion, and (b) tax avoidance in (1) 2008–09, and (2) 2009–10. [HL1783]
The relevant table has been included on the following page, and is also available online at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/autumn-report-2009.pdf.
The amounts attributable to tax evasion and tax avoidance are not identifiable separately.
Figures for 2009-10 will be published in HMRC's 2010 autumn performance report.
Results of work Tackling non-compliance (£m) Summary of Additional Liability (1) 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Local Compliance Corporation Tax Enquiries 757.6 833.7 771.2 792.5 Self-assessment Business Enquiries 308.0 415.3 384.8 359.3 Self-assessment Non-business Inquiries(2) 268.1 667.4 220.3 238.4 VAT Interventions 1280.1 1296.4 1845.1 2401.2(3) Excise Interventions 58.2 87.8 85.8 58.9 Employer Compliance 367.7 401.7 324.7 311.3 Construction Industry Reviews 0.0 56.0 57.2 65.6 International Trade Interventions 120.9 90.7 141.7 142.6 Capital Gains Tax Inquiries(4) 0.0 0.0 59.7 57.3 Hidden Economy 49.9 52.3 76.1 106.5 Broader Coverage 103.9 584.4 332.5 493.8 TEEL(5) - 32.0 Large Business Service Corporation Tax Enquiries 2196.0 2728.0 3916.0 3712.1 VAT Interventions 1142.0 828.0 770.0 837.3 Employer Compliance 62.2 104.9 110,5 83.7 Petroleum Revenue Tax 23.7 6.0 35,0 189.3 Excise Interventions 42.9 92.0 47.8 33.2 International Trade Interventions 87.9 156.0 46.9 32.0 Environmental Interventions 25.8 17.7 37.6 15.9 Specialist Investigations(6) Civil Interventions 1166.40 1041.4 SI Excise Yield(7) 243.6 Business International (8) Corporation Tax Interventions 64.7 91.3 152.1 115.2 Excise, Customs, Stamps and Money Stamps Tax 6.3 10.9 4.6 25.0(9) Charity Assets and Residency Income Tax and Inheritance Tax 385.2 253.7 356.1 314.0 CPTT(10) 306.5 373.0
(1) 1 Direct taxes include interest and penalties.
(2) SA Non-business in 2006-07 included large and exceptional yield resulting from decisions reached in High Court cases.
(3) LC VAT for 2008-09 includes assessments issued to unregisterable entities and a notional £40 for each new business contact. These were not included in previous years.
(4) Capital gains tax inquiry yield separately identified from 2007-08. In previous years it was included within SA non-business.
(5) TEEL (targeted education, enabling and leverage) not separately reported until 2008-09. Includes direct and indirect taxes,
(6) Figures for SI before 2007-08 are not available on a comparable basis as a result of a number of reorganisations and changes in the reporting of yield claimed in other parts of the department.
(7) New team established in 2008-09.
(8) The team responsible for this yield transferred from CT and VAT into business international in April 2009.
(9) Includes all stamp taxes, (that is, SD land tax, SD reserve tax and SD) Historic figures only show SDLT as no figures available for the other two.
(10) Historic complex personal tax team (CPTT) yield included in the local compliance figures.