Tax Investigators Collect Record Amount

02 July 2014

£23.9 billion was collected through tax investigations over the past twelve months, claims HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

This is an increase of £3.2 billion on the previous twelve-month period, and £9 billion on the period before that. HMRC said it was almost £1 billion above the target set by Chancellor George Osborne.

According to official figures, over £8 billion of the haul came from large businesses. A further £1 billion came from criminals and £2.7 billion from tackling avoidance schemes.

‘The Government supports the hard-working, honest majority of taxpayers that play by the rules, and is determined to tackle the minority that seek to avoid paying the taxes they owe,’ said Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke.

He continued: ‘We set HMRC ambitious targets to increase its yield and the figures published today demonstrate that HMRC is successfully meeting these challenges’.

HMRC said it aims to secure £100 billion between May 2010 and March 2015 through investigations into unpaid tax.