Welfare Tax Credits: Fraud

Steve Webb
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much and what percentage of tax credits overpaid as a result of fraud have been recovered in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement;

(2) how much of the sum overpaid in tax credits as a result of fraud has been classified as (a) recoverable and (b) unrecoverable in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Timms
The precise information requested is not available. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not keep separate records on the level of recoverable debt arising from compliance checks.

Information on tax credits debt and HMRC’s estimates of tax credits error and fraud are provided in Trust Statement section of HMRC’s departmental accounts.

HMRC’s departmental accounts for the last five years are available at:

2008-09

www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/hmrc-accs-0809.pdf

2007-08

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/hmrc-dep-acct0708.pdf

2006-07

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/hmrc-06-07-acc.pdf

2005-06

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/ channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel =pageVAT_ShowContent&propertyType=document &columns=1&id=HMCE_PROD1_025710

2004-05

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/ir-report2005.pdf