Are you being honest with HMRC?

14th June 2013

... Comments

HMRC has a number of ways of checking whether people are cheating with their tax returns or are not being completely honest with the information they are submitting.

Here are ten of them:

Computer power – access to comprehensive data that assists with finding anomalies.
Mystery shoppers – operate in disguise to root out suspicious behaviour.
Informers – tip offs are a vital source of information.
Faked numbers – means of testing the randomness of figures.
Third party information – bulk information available from businesses or government agencies.
Property raids – inspectors now have the power to raid homes of people they suspect of not paying tax.
Local and online information – information from adverts on noticeboards in newsagents, stories in local papers and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Overseas property owners – dedicated ‘affluence’ unit checking that those owners are complying with the law.
Offshore bank accounts –cross border co-operation with various agreements have now struck with these so called ‘tax havens’.
Fear and guilt – HMRC advertising campaigns emphasising that the net is closing in as well as naming and shaming.

By David White a Partner in Charterhouse, based in Beaconsfield.

About the Author