Management of tax debt: twenty-sixth report of session 2008-09, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidenceIn 2007-08, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) collected around £450 billion in tax and National Insurance contributions from 35 million taxpayers. At 31 March 2008 the Department was owed £17.3 billion in outstanding tax, interest and penalties, £4.5 billion of which was more than a year old. Debts arise when people or businesses forget to pay, do not understand the need to pay or deliberately try to avoid or delay payment. Most tax payments are made on time, but during 2007-2008 30 per cent of tax payments were made after they were due, the number of tax debts increased by 22 per cent and the level and age of debt increased on some taxes. HMRC needs to change the behaviour of taxpayers who persistently pay late. HMRC could do more to encourage prompt payment and it also lags behind best practice in recovering debt. For example, it does not risk score its debtors. Risk scoring would allow it to tailor the help it gives to those who do not understand their obligations or are in financial crisis, while dealing promptly with debtors who deliberately pay late. HMRC is also unable to automatically link debts owed on different taxes by the same taxpayer. In managing tax debt, HMRC must balance the need to maximise revenue for the Exchequer with that of offering support to individuals and businesses in temporary financial difficulty. Balancing these objectives becomes more difficult in a recession. Since launching the Business Payment Support Service in November 2008, HMRC had - by February 2009 - agreed over 60,000 'time to pay' arrangements with individual businesses, worth £1 billion in deferred tax. |
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2009 HM Customs 28 January 90 days Alan Williams Angela Browning assessment Austin Mitchell Business Payment Support C&AG's Report Chairman Committee of Public companies consultants Customs and Excise David Curry debit card debt collection debt management debt recovery debtors Department disputes Don Touhig Dr Pugh Edward Leigh Eland Geraldine Smith going HM Revenue HMRC HMRC's Ian Davidson improved individuals investment involved January 2009 HM John Pugh late payment Lodge looking Management of Tax managing tax debt million Mitchell month MP Conservative MP Labour Nigel Griffiths organisations PaceSetter paid paragraph paras pay arrangements PAYE Payment Support Service programme Public Accounts recession Revenue & Customs Revenue and Customs Richard Bacon risk based risk profiling risk score self-assessed Income Tax settlement staff strategy Strathie tax liability tax payments taxpayers telephone numbers temporary financial difficulty Touhig trace trying Unipart value debts
Bibliographic information
| Title | Management of tax debt: twenty-sixth report of session 2008-09, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Hc, Twenty-sixth Report of Session 2008-09 - Report, Together With Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence Volume 216 of House of Commons papers Volume 216 of Paper (Great Britain. Parliament. (Session 2008-09). House of Commons)) Volume 26 of Report (Great Britain. Parliament. (Session 2008-09). House of Commons. Public Accounts Committee)) Twenty-sixth report of session 2008-09 |
| Authors | Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts, House of Commons Public Accounts Committ |
| Publisher | The Stationery Office, 2009 |
| ISBN | 0215530632, 9780215530639 |
| Length | 36 pages |
| Subjects | › › Business & Economics / Finance / General Political Science / American Government / National Political Science / Reference |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |