Inland Revenue May Lose Powers To Prosecute

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

21 June 2004

The United Kingdom Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has suggested that the Inland Revenue could lose its powers to prosecute tax offences in the new merged tax department.

The move could mean that cases of tax evasion could be passed to the new independent prosecutions agency which is being set up to deal with customs offences after a series of high profile failed prosecutions carried out by Customs & Excise.

Commenting on the move, Lord Goldsmith said the new agency would allow Customs officials to "create a clear division with the past - put that behind them.”

"I am absolutely determined we should have a prosecutions agency for Customs that holds its head up high and that people have confidence in," he was quoted by the Financial Times as observing, adding that the inclusion of tax crimes within its remit would be a “commonsense” step.

The Revenue undertook 83 prosecutions of "suspected serious tax fraud" in the 2002/2003 financial year, resulting in 77 convictions.

The Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise are to be merged into one monolithic tax collecting structure as a result of Gordon Brown’s acceptance of recommendations made in a review by Gus O’Donnell, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. The new department has been christened Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and will be headed by David Varney, the outgoing chairman of mobile telephone company MM02.

Recommended