HMRC targeting health professionals in new tax campaign
10 October 2013
Physiotherapists and osteopaths are among the health professionals targeted in a new tax campaign giving a time limited opportunity to bring their tax affairs up to date.
The Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan is a new campaign which includes physiotherapists, occupational therapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, chiropodists and podiatrists. Homeopaths, dieticians, nutritional therapists, reflexologists, acupuncturists, psychologists, and speech, language and art therapists and others are also covered.
The campaign is not aimed at doctors and dentists, who were covered by a previous HMRC campaign, nor at nurses or social workers.
Health professionals have until 31 December 2013 to tell HMRC that they would like to take part in the campaign, and until 6 April 2014 to disclose and pay the tax owed.
After 31 December, HMRC will take a much closer look at the tax affairs of these health professionals. By using this campaign to come forward voluntarily, any penalty they might have to pay will be lower than if HMRC comes to them first.
Also included in HMRC’s latest tax cheat crackdowns are: landlords who rent out residential property; security guards, bouncers and their employers, focus being on workers in London and the South East; the construction industry in London; hidden wealth in the Midlands – including people with offshore accounts and those living lifestyles beyond their obvious means through assets from undeclared income; and the hidden economy in the second-hand motor trade in the Midlands.
2011 to 2012 tax gap figures published
14 October
Figures released by HMRC estimate the tax gap for 2011 to 2012 at 7% (£35 billion) of tax due, continuing a long-term downward trend.
The tax gap (the difference between the amount of tax HMRC believes is due and the amount of tax actually collected) has fallen steadily over the last six years, from 8.3% of tax due in 2005 to 2006 to 7.1% in 2010 to 2011 and 7% in 2011 to 2012. The tax gap is regularly revised to take account of improved methods and the latest available information, and the figures published today include revisions going back to 2005 to 2006. Alongside existing estimates of the beer and spirits tax gaps, a new estimate for the wine tax gap has been included for the first time. The tax gap is compiled from around 30 separate estimates for different taxes and is broken down by type of tax, customer group and customer behaviours, including tax evasion and avoidance, customer error, the hidden economy, criminal attacks and where tax cannot be collected because businesses have become insolvent.
Exchequer Secretary David Gauke said:
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 167 of 519
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