UK VAT gap

The UK VAT Gap grew to £13.3bn in 2017/18 up from £12bn in 2016/17 the latest figures from HMRC show.

Richard Asquith VP global indirect tax at technology company Avalara commented: ‘HMRC has attributed £3.5bn of the VAT gap to what it calls “avoidable taxpayer mistakes” in their VAT returns’. Making tax digital ‘should shave off over £0.5bn of the gap by eliminating first some basic manual errors’ Asquith said.

Plans announced in the Budget to re-introduce HMRC’s preferential creditor status in bankruptcies could also raise around £600m per annum.