| Synopsis: |
This report looks at a range of issues among HM Revenue & Customs' activities, but principally into the corporation tax paid by multinational companies. International companies are able to exploit national and international tax structures to minimise corporation tax on the economic activity they conduct in the UK. It is believed that this practice is widespread and that HMRC is not taking sufficiently aggressive action to assess and collect the appropriate amount of corporation tax. Both HMRC and corporate taxpayers are failing to meet the legitimate public expectations from the tax system. Evidence received was unconvincing, in some cases evasive, and there is concern that multinationals have an unfair competitive advantage. A change of mindset needs also to apply to HMRC's approach to the Tax Gap - the difference between tax collected and that which, in the Department's view, should be collected. While total tax revenues have increased by GBP4 billion since 2010-11, the Department's own assessment of the gap stands at GBP32 billion and has only reduced by GBP1 billion since 2004-05.HMRC deserves praise for clearing the backlog of un-reconciled legacy PAYE cases, before its target of December 2012, but is too complacent about the service it provides to customers. The next challenges HMRC faces are the roll-out of the Real Time Information system and the changes to child benefit. The system is vital for the Department for Work and Pensions' introduction of Universal Credit, but HMRC has no contingency planning to cope with any delays in implementation. The Department's performance in reducing the level of error and fraud on the tax credits it pays has got worse rather than better, and it has failed to meet its target |