Small business tax grab hits record high

 Small business tax grab hits record high

HMRC claims that state-of-the-art analytics software is making it almost impossible for companies to cheat the system, citing a record haul of £248m in evaded small business tax as evidence of its success. Investigators trawl through billions of items of data in an effort to catch out evaders before carrying out “intense bursts of activity” in a particular area, a method that has brought in £540m from sole traders and small companies who have underpaid tax over the past five years. In the year to April, HMRC reclaimed £248m in evaded tax - a tenfold increase in income since 2010. HMRC said its “cutting edge” computer systems, which comb through the accounts, holdings and Land Registry data of Britain’s 5m companies, are behind the campaign’s success.

Source:   The Daily Telegraph (09/07)