Tax warning issued as Britons urged to ‘pay bills on time’ in HMRC crackdown

Britons are being warned that they have to “pay their bills on time” as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ramps up its investigations of taxpayers.

Data from the tax authority has revealed that there have been 21 p.c extra enquiries round tax points within the final two years.

HMRC opened up 52,000 extra enquiries over the earlier 24 months which is an increase of 100 further every single day.

Some 299,000 tax enquiries have been opened up by the Government physique within the 2022/23 tax 12 months alone.

This is partially as a result of the Treasury is trying to lift tax receipts because it escalates its compliance exercise.

Data from HMRC’s quarterly performance updates spotlight that the variety of tax enquiries jumped from 247,000 within the 2020/21 monetary 12 months to 265,000 in 2021/22.

The following 12 months noticed an analogous dramatic improve of 299,000 which suggests a 21.05 p.c improve throughout these years.

Thanks to this soar in compliance exercise, HMRC was capable of generate £814billion in tax income final 12 months.

This represents a rise of 11.3 p.c in comparison with the 12 months earlier than which suggests the tax authority will proceed on its present path.

Experts are sounding the alarm that small companies and freelancers usually tend to be hit by this apparently extra aggressive strategy by HMRC.

Seb Maley, the CEO of tax insurance coverage supplier Qdos, famous that self-employed Britons are at present within the firing line.

He defined: “HMRC is clearly on a mission to increase tax receipts and we’re seeing first-hand experience of this.

“The number of self-employed workers being investigated by the tax office is noticeably on the rise.

“A far more active HMRC means that anyone working for themselves – whether a full-time freelancer or someone with a side hustle – should make sure they file their tax returns and pay their bills on time, as the bare minimum.”

The tax professional warned that it’s not simply freelancers and different self-employed companies that would come beneath scrutiny by the tax authority.

“But this is just a starting point. What’s often overlooked is that HMRC can investigate anyone at any time.

“You can never rule out a tax enquiry and all too often, people who have done nothing wrong are investigated. Without representation and protection, this can be a really stressful and expensive process.”