So far, more than £4bn has been collected since the APN initiative was introduced in 2014 to crack down on aggressive tax planning and avoidance, reports newspaper Financial Times.
It allows HMRC to demand full upfront payment of disputed tax within 90 days without the right to appeal.
Despite concerns that the penalties are “morally questionable”, the taxman said in January that it will continue to use APNs to combat tax avoidance schemes.
In June, HMRC set out a string of new conditions under which it may extend the time allowed to pay a tax bill.
Large company skew
Overall, HMRC collected less in 2016/17 than it did in 2015/16.
However, accountancy firm Moore Stephens said that the figures were significantly impacted by APNs issued to large companies.
In 2015/16, the taxman collected £943m from large companies. This dropped substantially to £19m a year later.
Excluding large companies, HMRC netted £1.07bn in 2015/16 and £1.3bn in 2016/17.
Shoot first
Dominic Arnold, head of tax investigations and disputes at Moore Stephens, said: “HMRC is making full use of its powers to ‘shoot first and ask questions later’.
“Its ability to demand accelerated payments remains a draconian but clearly increasingly effective mechanism for HMRC to clamp down on what it sees as abusive tax schemes.”
The Revenue has issued more than 75,000 APNs to date. In July, it said the average bill for large companies trying to avoid tax was £6m, with individuals and small corporations hit with £74,000, on average.
In December 2016, HMRC was forced to withdraw 4,300 APNs that had been sent in error.
At the time, Arnold warned: “APNs are HMRC’s weapons of mass destruction so they need to be used with care.”
