The amount of additional corporation tax HMRC has collected through tax investigations into the largest businesses has fallen to its lowest level since 2006/07, according to figures obtained by law firm Pinsent Masons. HMRC’s large business service collected an extra £3.17bn in tax in 2012/13 as a result of compliance activity relating to corporation tax, an 8% drop from £3.44bn the year before – and a 25% drop on 2010/11. Extra revenue gained from challenging large businesses over how much corporation tax they pay peaked at £4.1bn in 2010/11.
Jason Collins, partner at Pinsent Masons, said that whilst the figures ‘may be seen by some as a poor result for HMRC’, they can be explained by reforms to corporation tax over the last few years. ‘It is frequently argued that lower taxes and simpler taxes should lead to lower levels of tax evasion and avoidance activity and inevitably that means lower tax investigation yields,’ he said.
The amount of additional corporation tax HMRC has collected through tax investigations into the largest businesses has fallen to its lowest level since 2006/07, according to figures obtained by law firm Pinsent Masons. HMRC’s large business service collected an extra £3.17bn in tax in 2012/13 as a result of compliance activity relating to corporation tax, an 8% drop from £3.44bn the year before – and a 25% drop on 2010/11. Extra revenue gained from challenging large businesses over how much corporation tax they pay peaked at £4.1bn in 2010/11.
Jason Collins, partner at Pinsent Masons, said that whilst the figures ‘may be seen by some as a poor result for HMRC’, they can be explained by reforms to corporation tax over the last few years. ‘It is frequently argued that lower taxes and simpler taxes should lead to lower levels of tax evasion and avoidance activity and inevitably that means lower tax investigation yields,’ he said.
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