Restaurant owners targeted in HMRC crackdown
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has revealed that it is to hunt
down tax evaders with a series of special units.
The restaurant sector across the UK will be focused upon
initially, with tax evaders within the food trade weeded out.
London eateries will be the focus of the HMRC crackdown at first,
followed by those in Scotland and the North West.
Restaurants are seen as being 'high-risk' in terms of tax
evasion, due to the cash tips which customers often pay to waiting
staff.
HMRC's Mike Eland told the BBC that the plans were part of the
drive to minimise the number of tax dodgers in a bid to raise more
money through taxes.
“These task forces are a new approach which uses HMRC's
resources to identify and tackle rule-breakers and evaders swiftly
and effectively.
“Only those who choose to break the rules, or deliberately evade
the tax they should be paying, will be targeted,” he said.
The focus on tax evaders within the food industry follows a
similar crackdown on plumbers and more task forces are to be set up
to investigate other sectors over the next few years.
The Chartered Institute of Taxation's Gary Ashford, said to the
BBC, “HMRC have a range of sources of evidence available to them
and we assume that they have been doing their homework so they can
target their anti-evasion efforts.
“Careful targeting is needed as the one fear with this
initiative is that those who make genuine mistakes over their tax
affairs might be caught up in this drive,” he added.