HMRC boasts record year
HMRC Chief Executive, Lin Homer, announced over the summer record-breaking compliance and tax revenue for this year. For the first time ever, Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs collected over £500bn in total tax revenues (USD853.4bn) and record compliance revenues of nearly £24bn.
Recent efforts by the HMRC to tackle tax evasion may have contributed to their success this year, but Homer attributes it to improvements in Customer Service, real time PAYE systems, a reduction in errors and the clarity of instruction as well.
No doubt the USA’s implementation of FATCA and the OECD efforts to globalise tax information exchange have fueled some of the success HMRC is currently experiencing. In any case, the figure indicates people are taking notice and coming forward.
There are fewer and fewer places to hide these days.