Enable Independent, Ifa’s in Bishop’s Stortford are pleased to see that HMRC are taking a hard line with tax dodgers, they made 550 tax convictions in 2011/12.
Since the HMRC merged with the Crown Prosecution Service they have created a much larger team to deal with tax evaders, saying that it will increase the number of prosecutions by fivefold over the next four years.
Mr Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions told the BBC Radio 4: "It is, of course, always important to prosecute tax evasion but never more so than in this sort of hardship we find ourselves in now. There are people really suffering who are paying their taxes. I think it is important for a prosecution service to respond to public concern, to be seen to be in tune with what ordinary people think ought to happen and to gain the confidence of people that we are prosecuting good cases properly."
He continued: "There's a difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion and we are concerned here with tax evasion, which includes an element of fraud, of dishonesty.
"But that having been said, the heart of the ramping-up is not only the increase in volume that's already been referred to but also a demonstrability to prosecute highly complex dishonest tax avoidance schemes.
"So, big tax avoidance schemes if they are dishonest will be prosecuted. The way that tax evasion is dealt with is really a matter for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. They have got a range of powers and abilities.
"What this demonstrates is that the number of cases prosecuted is going to go up. We are talking about a five-fold ramping-up over a four-year period so it is a significant increase intended to make clear that in hard economic times, when law-abiding taxpayers are suffering real hardship, it's important to prosecute these cases."
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