A SPECIALIST team of tax inspectors that assesses Britain’s richest 5,000 people, has doubled its tax take in its second year of operation.
HM Revenue & Customs’ high net worth unit reaped £162m in the 2010/11 financial year, compared with £86m in its first year.
Treasury minister David Gauke said: “These are economically challenging times and it is absolutely essential and only fair that everyone pays their share of tax.”
The sum secured by the team in the last year is on top of the tax already paid by the individuals, whose personal wealth typically exceeds £200m.
Around 1,000 of those reporting the highest income and capital gains had a combined UK personal direct tax liability of £2.8bn.
The HMRC said most of the additional revenue was due to rules being misunderstood or not correctly applied to the particular circumstances of the taxpayer.
