Chancellor George Osborne has today (25 November) pledged a further £800m to be spent in the fight against tax evasion in the UK.
Delivering the Autumn Statement, he said: “HMRC is making savings of 18 per cent in its own budget through efficiencies – in the digital age, we don’t need taxpayers to pay for paper processing, or 170 separate tax offices around the country.
“Instead, we’re reinvesting some of those savings with an extra £800m in the fight against tax evasion – an investment with a return of almost ten times in additional tax collected.
“We’re going to build one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. So that every individual and every small business will have their own digital tax account by the end of the decade, in order to manage their tax online.”
Mr Osborne added that from 2019, once those accounts are up and running, the government will require capital gains tax to be paid within 30 days of completion of any disposal of residential property.
Elsewhere, he said that the government would go further with new penalties for the General Anti-Abuse Rule we introduced, action on disguised remuneration schemes and stamp duty avoidance, and also the stop of abuse of the intangible fixed assets regime and capital allowances.
“We will also exclude energy generation from the venture capital schemes, to ensure that they remain well targeted at higher risk companies.”
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
