Closure of HMRC unit puts £5bn of taxpayers’ money at risk, warn MPs

HMRC’s decision to shut down its Taxpayer Protection Taskforce, which targeted fraudulent and faulty COVID-19 support schemes claims, could lead to £5.1bn of taxpayers’ money being written off, a report by MPs claims. MPs on the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said while the Treasury and HMRC moved quickly to put the schemes providing “essential” support for businesses and individuals in place, they were too slow to better target support to those in genuine need, and tackle error and fraud.

 

Acer Accounts can assist you with your taxation, year-end accounts, self assessment, bookkeeping, accounting and payroll services – we are your tax advisor near you

 

Financial Times

Related Post

Reeves urged to abolish the £175,000 residence nil-rate band The Chancellor is facing pressure to eliminate the £175,000 residence nil-rate band in her upcoming Budget. Rachel Reeves previously argued that this allowance, which costs around £2bn annually, primarily benefits the wealthy and now the Resolution Foundation is pushing her to scrap it. In 2011, she stated: “Raising the inheritance tax limit to £1m for […] By Lisa Brownlow, 18 September 2024
Read Now
Small firms responsible for 80% of tax evasion Analysis by the National Audit Office (NAO) shows that small firms are responsible for more than 80% of tax evasion. The report cites HMRC estimates that £5.5bn was lost to deliberate tax evasion in the 2022/23 financial year, with small businesses responsible for 81% of the total. Despite a reduction in the overall tax gap […] By Lisa Brownlow, 16 September 2024
Read Now
Threshold freeze creates 4.4m more taxpayers The number of people paying income tax has increased by 4.4m in three years due to the freeze on thresholds, according to HMRC data. The figures also show that the decision to freeze the personal threshold at £12,570 has pulled an additional 1.77m pensioners into the income tax bracket. There are currently an estimated 37.4m […] By Lisa Brownlow, 3 July 2024
Read Now
↑