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The government is investing a further £79m over the next five years to enable HMRC to allocate additional staff to tackle more cases of serious tax fraud and address tax compliance risks among wealthy taxpayers.
It is likely that HMRC’s ongoing campaigns will target increasing numbers of taxpayers who have misunderstood the tax system and failed in their obligations as a result, but there is also a clear focus on tackling fraud and deliberate tax evasion.
The funding will be provided over the next five years.
While we welcome additional resource being provided to HMRC, it is always difficult to estimate the level of tax lost through illegal activity, and much of HMRC have been under pressure post the pandemic, as evidenced by their dashboard performance. Arguably, resource earmarked for HMRC could have been allocated more flexibly.