The following information has been researched and put together by Patrick Cannon to provide an up-to-date and current page of all UK 2018-2020 tax evasion statistics.
2020 saw a record fall in the volume of recorded tax fraud, including tax refunds, evasion of duty, evasion and VAT fraud. It fell by 93% from 2019 to 2020, from £721 million to just £54 million. There was a 51% drop in the volume of cases in 2020 as opposed to 369 in 2019.
During the 2017 to 2018 financial year, there were a total of 3,809 tax evasion cases recorded.
Records of tax evasion stats suggest that the number of cases brought to light has been increasing, with 593 more arising since the previous financial year (2016 to 2017) and 837 more now occurring than were recorded in 2015 to 2016.
This leaves us with a total of 9,997 tax evasion cases taking place over the last three years. Broken down into the following:
548 individuals were charged for tax evasion in 2019 – 2020.
Overall, in 2019 fraud investigations have led to the conviction of more than 600 individuals for their part in tax crimes.
Furthermore, new criminal investigations into more than 610 individuals have been launched during the last 12 months.
Many of the individuals prosecuted for tax-based crimes were found to be company directors, accountants and organised criminals – each of whom tend to handle large financial assets.
Simon York, director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC said of the court’s ruling, “Today’s result sends a clear message to the minority who commit tax crime that no matter who you are or what resources you have at your disposal, no one is beyond our reach.”
Both domestic and global initiatives have now been put in place to tackle offshore tax evasion, with a combined £2.8 billion having been spent on their investigations since 2010.
Many of the individuals prosecuted for tax-based crimes were found to be company directors, accountants and organised criminals – each of whom tends to handle large financial assets.
HMRC reported in June 2019 the total tax gap at £31 billion for 2018/19, representing 4.7% of total tax liabilities.
Throughout the tax year running from 2018 to 2019, the total cost of tax avoidance came to approximately £1.7 billion, while tax evasion was around £4.6 billion within the same time frame.
HMRC has estimated that £4.6bn in tax revenue was lost to evasion in 2018/19.
£3 billion has so far been recovered from perpetrators of offshore tax evasion in just under a decade.
The “Panama Papers” constituted the biggest tax evasion case in history and resulted in a global scandal. In total, they involved more than 40 years’ worth of data relating to tax fraud.
The case involved 11.5 million files, 4.8 million of which were emails and 1 million of which were images.
It truly was a worldwide matter, with the names of people and institutions based in 200 countries and territories mentioned within the files, and more than 214,000 companies and 21 offshore “tax havens” being investigated as a result.
Of these, 113,000 – more than half of the companies scrutinised throughout the case – were incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and the scheme involved more than 14,000 clients and recipients overall, including 109 media organisations.
The HMRC hotline where members of the public use to report suspected fraudulent behaviour relating to tax evasion averages around 200 calls every single day.
HMRC had received 73,000 whistleblowing reports in 2019/20, 10% more than in the previous year.
The phrase “tax gap” refers to the difference between the amount of tax that should be paid to HMRC each year and the amount that is received by the government.
The tax gap in the UK is currently estimated to be worth about £31 billion, which is 4.7% of tax liabilities (lowest recorded rate). Around five per cent of the total amount is thought to be due to illegal tax evasion.
Throughout the years 2018-19, the gap has reduced by around £2 billion since it was last measured in 2017. The gap is decreasing. Since 2005, the size of the gap has reduced from 7.3% to 4.7% in 2019.
There are a number of reasons for the existence of the UK tax gap, the majority of which involve fraudulent financial activity and tax evasion. They include:
Breaking matters down further, investigations have concluded that: (2018-2019)
What missing tax makes up the tax gap?
What are the reasons behind the tax gap?
Of the 66.57 million people residing in the UK, 5.7 million fail to declare earnings made through what has become known as “side hustles” – ventures undertaken outside of our main employment, such as selling items online or taking on freelance work. It’s not commonly known that individuals are expected to pay taxes on their extra earnings, but if the total amount earned values at over £1000 – the money becomes a taxable asset. This regulation is not necessarily well communicated and may contribute to the vast amount of Brits not paying tax on their ‘side hustles’.
This unknowingness has led to an estimated total amount of £23.5 billion being earned throughout 2017 without being correctly taxed.
London is home to the highest percentage of individuals who fail to declare an amount of their income, with 30.9% of them doing so. On average, residents of this region earn around £8,991 without paying tax.
London is followed by the North East (26.5%) and the North West (12.4%). As for how much money was being made off the books, Londoners again top the ranks at £8,991.36, followed by East of England at £7,370.82 and the North East at £3,888.60.
19% of men make undeclared amounts from a “side hustle”, and the average man fails to declare around £4,571 of his income – while 8.3% of women take on undeclared work on the side and the average woman takes home £3,091 worth of untaxed finances.
The generation who fail to declare the highest amount of taxable income are millennials. 27.7% of people within this age group (made up of people born between 1981 and 1996) make money and fail to declare it, meaning this is the largest percentage of any generation to commit this type of financial crime.
Generation X – people born between 1965 and 1980 – see 14.05% of their generation failing to declare any of their finances.
6.9% of Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) fail to declare all of their income.
For professional and insurance reasons Patrick is unable to offer any advice until he has been formally instructed.
