WIREDGOV

• Full Report (869 KB)
• Executive Summary (434 KB)
• Executive Summary HTML
• Comparing how some tax authorities tackle the hidden economy (549 KB)

HM Revenue & Customs achieved a return of around £4.50 for every £1 spent on tackling the hidden economy in 2006-07 and recent campaigns to encourage people into the formal economy have achieved much higher returns.

But, according to the National Audit Office, the penalties the Department imposes when it detects people in the hidden economy are relatively low and it obtained little publicity for prosecutions.

The Department spends £41 million a year on tackling the hidden economy. Today’s report found that the Department compares well in many areas with other tax authorities. Its advertising campaigns have resulted in an additional 8,000 people registering to pay tax and it estimates that they will pay tax of around £38 million over the next three years.

The Department has also encouraged people to come forward voluntarily to pay tax owed using its Offshore Disclosure arrangements, making use of information obtained on around 400,000 overseas bank accounts held by UK residents. Around 45,000 people came forward in 2007, bringing in £400 million in additional tax at a cost of £6 million.

The number of cases detected through formal investigations by the Department was 28,300 in 2006-07, 12 per cent lower than in 2003-04. At the same time, the overall amount of tax detected increased by 13 per cent in real terms to £145 million.

The Department can impose a penalty of up to 100 per cent of tax due but in most cases the penalty is much lower. There were around 70 prosecutions in 2006-07. The Department did not secure much publicity on these cases, reducing the wider deterrent effect.

Among its recommendations, the NAO says that the Department should make more use of advertising to inform people of the benefits of working in the formal economy and change public attitudes to help reduce demand for hidden economy work. It should also develop further schemes to encourage widespread voluntary disclosure by people who owe tax.

Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said today:

"HM Revenue & Customs has experimented with new ways of encouraging people into the formal economy and it is managing to detect more unpaid tax. It could make better use of penalties and secure greater publicity for prosecutions to discourage people from operating in the hidden economy. With well over £1 billion in unpaid tax each year, it is important that the Department becomes more effective in tackling the problem."

Notes for Editors:

1. The hidden economy is usually taken to mean any undeclared economic activity. Definitions vary, but it can range from casual moonlighting, work paid cash in hand, fraudulently claiming welfare benefits, through to tax evasion and organised crime.
2. HM Revenue & Customs set up the Offshore Disclosure arrangements in April 2007 following landmark rulings against a variety of major financial institutions where it obtained details of UK resident offshore bank account holders. The arrangements encouraged people to come forward voluntarily, disclose and pay their outstanding tax. The taxpayer needed to notify the Department by 22 June 2007 of their intention to make a disclosure under the arrangements.
3. Press notices and reports are available from the date of publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
4. The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, is the head of the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other bodies have used their resources.