UK Inland Revenue Recruits 2,000 New Tax Inspectors

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

10 July 2001

Come back Hector - all is forgiven! Having done away with the nation's favourite tax inspector (well, these things are relative), the UK Inland Revenue has announced that it is taking on over 2,000 extra staff to examine a possible 100,000 self assessment forms which the Revenue feels contain inaccuracies or omissions, as well as 11,000 randomly selected forms.

Even more chilling is the news that the new recruits have been asked by the Treasury to find a target number of 'guilty' tax payers for the first time ever - they are expected to impose fines and penalties in 76% of all full enquiries. Peter Horsman, partner at the London based accountancy firm Saffery Champness explains: 'When the self assessment regime began, tax inspectors were judged on the number of cases they opened and closed. The idea was simply to show that the Revenue was keeping an eye on tax returns. But now the emphasis has been switched to the amount of tax that inspectors can collect.'

An Inland Revenue spokesman said recently that taxpayers should not be alarmed by the target, and has promised that the way investigations are carried out will not change, and that genuine and minor mistakes are unlikely to trigger fines. It is thought that only about a third of inquiries will involve face to face meetings with inspectors and detailed disclosure of all income, investment and other financial records.

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