The UK’s overall tax gap for the 2013-2014 financial year was 6.4%, HMRC revealed today, continuing a downward trend over the last few years
The difference between the amount of tax collected and that which is owed, the tax gap has fallen from 8.4% in the 2005-2006 financial year to 6.6% in the 2012-2013 financial year.
This amounts to the collection of an extra £57bn in the last eight years. The current tax gap is currently worth £34bn.
The most reduced tax gap is in corporation tax. In the 2005-2006 financial year, the corporation tax gap was 14%; it has now fallen to 7%.
David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, said, “The UK has one of the lowest tax gaps in the world, and this government is determined to continue fighting evasion and avoidance wherever it occurs.
“If the tax gap percentage had stayed at its 2009-10 value of 7.3%, £14.5bn less tax would have been collected.”