Between the tax years 2020–2021 and 2022–2023, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) conducted 21% more tax investigations aimed at small enterprises and independent contractors.
According to data, HMRC began 247,000 tax probes in 2020–2021; by 2021/22, that number had risen to 265,000, and by 2022–2023 it had reached 299,000. This increase is the result of HMRC’s efforts to increase tax revenue.
HMRC recovered a substantial £814 billion in tax receipts in 2021–2022. Intensive efforts to identify and combat tax fraud and non-compliance resulted in a startling £34 billion of this total, which would cover more than 75% of the UK’s 2021/22 Defence budget.
The uncollected tax liabilities, or “tax gap,” have significantly decreased from 7.5% in 2005–06 to 4.8% in 2021/22. However, HMRC is still pushing hard to close this gap even as the national debt now exceeds 100% of the UK GDP.
Remarkably, information obtained by UHY Hacker Young via a Freedom of Information request showed that nearly 267,000 of the inquiries pertaining to freelancers and small businesses conducted between 2019/20 and 2021/22 did not yield any recovered taxes. This represents over 40% of all the investigations that HMRC has conducted throughout this time.
HMRC also started talking about obtaining information about people’s financial facts from banks and other comparable entities earlier this year.
The uncollected tax liabilities, or “tax gap,” have significantly decreased from 7.5% in 2005–06 to 4.8% in 2021/22. However, HMRC is still pushing hard to close this gap even as the national debt now exceeds 100% of the UK GDP.
Remarkably, information obtained by UHY Hacker Young via a Freedom of Information request showed that nearly 267,000 of the inquiries pertaining to freelancers and small businesses conducted between 2019/20 and 2021/22 did not yield any recovered taxes. This represents over 40% of all the investigations that HMRC has conducted throughout this time.
HMRC also started talking about obtaining information about people’s financial facts from banks and other comparable entities earlier this year.
