The government organisation said the new taskforces will target specific business sectors and locations where it believes there is evidence of tax evasion. It said these are likely to include the fashion industry, the motor vehicle trade and indoor and outdoor markets.
HMRC said it expects to collect over £50m ($79m, €60m) as a result of 12 taskforces launched in 2011/12, adding that, with 13 criminal investigations under way, “this figure is set to rise”. The Revenue also said it plans to extend some of the 2011 taskforces to different locations, including the scrap metal taskforce it launched in Scotland last November.
The new taskforces will be paid for by the £917m investment committed by the government in its spending review last year. Through this investment, the UK Exchequer hopes to raise an additional £7bn each year by 2014/15.
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said: “The Government is committed to tackling tax evasion and avoidance. HMRC’s taskforces are cracking down on people who choose to break the rules and creating a level playing field for the majority who play by them.
“It is completely unacceptable, at a time when we are trying to bring down the deficit that, while most hard-working people pay the right tax, there are others who try to get out of contributing their fair share. HMRC has received lots of useful information on its evasion hotlines, which shows that the honest majority are quite rightly fed up with the dishonest minority.”
