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Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees
I'm a damn site sure than they are not as large as the massive corporations who are avoiding paying their fair share as well as non doms etc.
Shame they don't make as much effort going after them, after all how many successful prosecutions were there in the last parliamentary term ?
The answer by the way, is 1
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You're not serious are you? I take it you also believe the police should leave muggers and burglars alone in order to concentrate all their efforts on bigger fish eh...
HMG, HMRC and rafts of lawyers have been working very hard to deal with evasion and aggressive avoidance. That's not to say that more can't/shouldn't/won't be done and indeed HMRC has only just announced they're effectively giving up on fines for late returns etc. to concentrate on more important matters. Odd that, when they're only interested in chasing the little guys according to you.
Many large and aggressive avoidance schemes have been closed down and £billions of tax reclaimed so to claim they're doing very little is nonsense. The truth is, however, that by the nature of these complex schemes and companies which base their affairs offshore, for example, is that the rules are incredibly complex and it's extremely difficult to do anything about them without international agreements.
The problem isn't the will to go after these people/schemes etc. it's the complexity of the rules (both UK and internationally) which allow all sorts of means by which to exploit them.
Only days ago this was announced:
http://www.professionaladviser.com/p...n-hmrcs-sights
and there have been numerous other examples of schemes used by the wealthy to unfairly avoid tax.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hmrc-recove...odgers-1474061
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HM Revenue & Customs has managed to recover £3.65bn in owed revenue as it clamps down on UK tax evaders.
HMRC's top investigators managed to claw back the extra money thanks to increased scrutiny of tax avoidance schemes, tax evasion and fraud.
Law firm Pinsent Masons found that HMRC's Special Investigations team had the most successful year to date: lost taxes were up by almost a quarter on 2012/13's recovered income of £2.97bn ($4.7bn, €3.8bn).
The takings constitute a tenth of the predicted £34bn tax gap thought to be affecting the UK.
Paul Noble, tax director at Pinsent Masons, said: "These figures should be a massive jolt to anyone with undisclosed or outstanding tax liabilities that have given them significant savings. HMRC has been recruiting and training heavily in order to increase the activity of its specialist investigations team. That new capacity is now clearly on-stream.
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Clearly those who've been on the receiving end don't think HMRC is doing nothing:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80219afa-a...#ixzz3bo0sVi5s
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Investors in several commercial property ventures deemed to have misused generous tax reliefs now face demands to repay large sums to the government.
In the latest crackdown on tax avoidance, members of at least three partnerships that took advantage of the government-sponsored Business Premises Renovation Allowances (BPRA) scheme have now been issued with accelerated payment demands to repay tax relief claimed on their investments.
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http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/new...-gbp24bn-yield
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AN HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS CRACKDOWN on tax avoidance and evasion has brought in an additional £23.9bn to the public purse.
The haul marks HMRC's highest since records began, which it said is a result of its investigations.
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