HMRC PROBES NET £3.9BN VAT

摘要

HMRC has raised a record £3.9bn in extra VAT from compliance investigations into small businesses in the last 12 months, up 10% in a year, according to UHY Hacker Young, which says SMEs now feel they are in the firing line over tax avoidance. The extra VAT raised by investigations into SMEs by HMRC's local offices has almost doubled in three years, rising from £2.2bn in the 2010/11 tax year. Simon Newark, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: 'HMRC has taken an increasingly hard line over the last year, so small businesses are facing investigation over VAT arrangements that have long been accepted.' In one instance, HMRC applied VAT to online sales of spectacles by Glasses Direct as these were not accompanied by 'medical dispensing services', unlike sales in high street opticians. 'The law is heavily weighted in HMRC's favour. Once they make a decision it is irrelevant if the decision is right, wrong or even unlawful. Unless the taxpayer challenges it, the decision will be enforced by the full might of the state with bailiffs if necessary,' he added.