DUBLIN: Customs officials are set to swoop on £18 million from tax cheats in Northern Ireland, it has been revealed.
A special task force has been set up to by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to target those people whose lifestyles don’t match their income, according to PwC.
The business advisory group said offices are tracking down people who display so-called “badges of wealth” such large houses and second homes, to boats and other trappings of a high-spending lifestyle.
HMRC will uses Land Registry and other online records and asset-recording databases to cross reference wealth indicators with the data it holds about their owners and their tax affairs.
Alan Gourley, associate tax partner with PwC in Northern Ireland said HMRC is targeting people whose lifestyle does not reflect the tax they are paying.
“This is technology meets tax-evasion and past performance suggests that HMRC will be the likely winner,” he said.
“From houses, second homes and exotic motorcars, to boats, bank accounts and racehorses, there is virtually no asset that doesn’t leave a digital fingerprint – and they also have a value that HMRC can set against what their owners say they earned and the tax they paid.
“These taskforces are triggered where HMRC has knowledge of specific sectors and/or locations where there is evidence of tax evasion and fraud so, to justify a dedicated Northern Ireland taskforce, HMRC must be confident that it can claw back £18m of unpaid tax.
“That alone, suggests they may have some idea of the sectors and business – and maybe even some of the people – they want to talk to.”
PwC said HMRC task force teams tend to arrive unannounced at business and commercial premises to examine records, assets and undertake investigations into asset ownership, taxpayer’s income and financial transactions and bank accounts.
It said HMRC is increasingly looking towards criminal investigations, hefty fines and, in extreme cases custodial sentences, for those accused of significant tax evasion.
There have been a number of successful criminal prosecutions as a result of the initial work undertaken by these taskforces.
Mr Gourley said that anyone in the north whose affairs won’t stand task force scrutiny, should make a disclosure as soon as possible or risk facing a detailed, costly and potentially painful HMRC investigation.
“However, anyone who wants to make a disclosure before HMRC arrives on the doorstep should carefully consider the most appropriate way in which to come forward,” he said.
“This can include taking professional advice and/or using the disclosure facilities currently offered by HMRC, but with all of the disclosure opportunities ending in December, a decision needs to be made in the near future.”
