HM Revenue and Customs: improving the processing and collection of tax income tax, corporation tax, stamp duty land tax and tax credits second report of session 2009-10 report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

House of Commons papers 97 2009-10

Corporate Author:: Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts
Author:: Edward Leigh (chairman)
Publisher:: TSO (The Stationery Office)

In 2008-09, total taxes and duties collected and receivable were £436 billion, some £22 billion lower than in 2007-08. The £436 billion included £28 billion in tax debtors. The Department has made a provision for bad and doubtful debts of £11.2 billion, 40 per cent of the total, and £3.3 billion more than in the previous year. At a time when the public finances are under pressure, protecting tax revenues has never been more important. The recession presents a number of challenges for the Department and places the tax system under a great deal of stress. Taxpayers looking for support have been given more time to pay their tax liabilities. But while the Department is working to improve its debt recovery, its efforts are constrained by outdated systems and it has deferred plans to invest in them due to lack of funding. Better systems would help the Department improve tax recovery and reduce losses. Delays in introducing new systems have contributed to processing backlogs and have led to staff resources being diverted at critical times. The Department cannot now begin to clear the backlog of 17 million PAYE cases until its new systems are fully operational in April 2010. The absence of information on tax losses through non-compliance and avoidance makes it harder for the Department to analyse risk and to judge how to deploy its resources where they will have most beneficial impact. In 2007-08 claimant error and fraud resulted in incorrect tax credits payments of between £1.58 billion and £1.84 billion.

Extent	[2], 24, Ev 14p.	ISBN	9780215542489
Size	N/A	Price	£10.00
Binding	Paperback	Published	10 Dec 2009
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