Tax Inspectors Get Police-Like Powers to Tackle Tax Evaders
Tax inspectors have been given police-like powers to access people’s bank statements, address books, payslips and even diaries
[Ed. note ~ Today ... Great Britain! Tomorrow ... HERE!!!]
The inspectors can now turn up at people’s homes or businesses unannounced and examine their records if they believe not enough tax has been paid.
The news comes at the end of a week in which HM Revenue & Customs was accused of incompetence because of failings in the ‘pay-as-you-earn’ (PAYE) system. About 1.4 million people are now facing tax demands because of HMRC errors.
The scale of the new powers for tax inspectors, which were first introduced last year under the Finance Act 2008, have only become apparent after HMRC started to publish redacted versions of their training manuals on the internet.
Gary Ashford, head of tax risk, disputes and investigations at accountancy firm RSM Tenon, said that the powers under civil law made tax inspectors more powerful than the police.
So far hundreds of people are thought to have been subject to the intrusive unannounced checks.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
