HMRC figures out in the present day present the tax authority believes small companies at the moment are liable for 56% of the UK’s ‘tax hole’ – a complete of £20.2bn in a single 12 months*, says multinational legislation agency Pinsent Masons.

This determine has now risen for 4 consecutive years. Small companies had been solely believed to be liable for 40% of the tax hole in 2017/18 – a complete of £12.8bn.

Steven Porter, Associate and Head of Tax Disputes and Investigations at Pinsent Masons, says: “HMRC is actually shifting its consideration to small companies. It has labored onerous to scale back the quantity of tax that goes unpaid from giant companies and excessive web value people – but it surely nonetheless has a variety of work to do on SMEs.”

“HMRC’s deal with giant companies and rich people signifies that small companies get much less consideration. Investigations into small companies anecdotally typically take longer to finish and issues can persist for years.”

“For instance, there are instances of small companies persevering with to make use of tax avoidance schemes for years after they had been nearly worn out amongst giant companies and excessive web worths.”

“Small companies that aren’t tax compliant shouldn’t be shocked if they’re investigated by HMRC over the following couple of years. That’s clearly the course that HMRC appears to be like set to enter based mostly on these figures. Getting out forward of that drawback by taking skilled recommendation could be an excellent thought at this level.”

Pinsent Masons provides that the general tax hole for the UK held regular at 4.8% of all tax theoretically due, the identical determine as final 12 months.

The tax hole measures the distinction between the quantity of tax which ought to, in idea, be collected by HMRC and what’s really collected. A lot of the hole will relate to avoidance and evasion.