§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from the Inland Revenue Staff Federation or other bodies concerning income tax evaders; and what steps he intends to take to eliminate the problem.
§ Mr. TaverneMy right hon. Friend has not received any such representations. The law provides for substantial penalties for tax evasion and in appropriate cases criminal proceedings are taken. The detection of evasion and the recovery of unassessed tax are part of the normal duties of inspectors of taxes and the Inland Revenue devote the maximum available resources to this.
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§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the number of tax fraud cases uncovered in each of the last 10 years, indicating how much tax was recovered in each year as a consequence.
§ Mr. TaverneThe information is given below.
The following figures, which reproduce Table 25 in the 112th Report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue cover cases where there has been fraud, wilful default or neglect.
UNDER-ASSESSMENT OF PROFITS 1959–60 to 1968–69 Year ended 31st March Number of cases Total charge raised Penalties included in total charge † Interest included in previous column £ £ £ 1960 13,734 19,642,073 8,491,884 — 1961 9,752 12,905,544 5,549,820 Not available 1962 11,868 18,770,906 5,200,427 2,271,975 1963 10,944 14,020,699 4,289,258 1,887,282 1964 12,216 15,563,617 4,655,467 2,117,258 1965 12,405 15,965,295 4,897,498 2,131,602 1966 11,618 14,200,366 4,648,336 1,985,981 1967 11,154 14,722,018 4,731,028 1,965,013 1968 10,487 13,556,419 4,268,122 1,781,875 1969 8,983 13,230,101 4,248,896 1,863,516 Smaller cases of under-assessment, mostly concerning interest received or credited without deduction of tax, have been settled as follows:—
Year ended 31st March Number of cases Total charge raised £ 1960 31,586 735,026 1961 22,740 535,390 1962 25,632 694,629 1963 39,800 1,141,370 1964 37,977 1,153,607 1965 35,634 1,052,040 1966 34,772 1,006,306 1967 55,181 1,515,934 1968 56,995 1,577,495 1969 41,000 1,200,000