HMRC has announced which industries it will be launching ‘campaigns’ against (scrutinising) in 2012.
There will be three new campaigns, plus two which have already been announced will be launched before 31 March 2012.
Campaigns are designed to tackle tax evasion by encouraging people with undeclared tax to bring their affairs up to date. Each campaign focuses on a particular group, e.g. a trade sector or people with money in offshore accounts.
The new campaigns, to be launched later in 2012, are aimed at:
• Missing returns: focusing on people who fail to complete tax returns and who are liable to pay tax at the higher rates.
• Home improvement trades: focusing on tradespeople in construction and building work such as roofing, window fitting, bricklaying, carpentry and joinery.
• Direct selling: focusing on people with taxable income from buying and selling goods direct to others, or from the commission on these sales.
Two campaigns which were announced previously and will be launched before the end of 2011/12 are targeted at:
• Electricians and electrical fitters. This will be launched in February 2012.
• E-marketplaces. This will be launched in spring 2012 and will target those who are using e-marketplaces to buy and sell goods as a trade or business but not declaring the income. People who only sell a few items and who are not traders are unlikely to be liable to tax and will not be targeted by this campaign.
Each campaign follows a similar pattern. People are encouraged to come forward and settle their tax on favourable terms. There are usually two stages with deadlines first for notifying HMRC that you intend to use the disclosure opportunity, and then for making the disclosure and paying the arrears.
A particular feature of these campaigns is that HMRC will use information from other sources to seek out people whom it thinks should have come forward. In previous campaigns information has been obtained from trade bodies, professional registrations and even from flicking through the yellow pages!
As always, if you have any concerns over the latest HMRC efforts to improve tax collection please contact Brooks Mayfield NOW.
From ICAEW.com