HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has extended its efforts to inspect the financial status of some of Britain’s wealthiest taxpayers through its “Rising Stars” team, which actively seeks to track their activities.
Those monitored as part of the “Rising Stars” team’s work are taxpayers that have a quickly increasing income level and a minimum net worth of £15 million.
In the 2013/14 financial year, the team launched 51 enquiries into the affairs of individuals in its target group, which is a significant increase from the 2012/13 figure of 38.
New changes to the team’s role will mean that any individual considered to have the ability to meet a £20 million wealth criteria within the next five years will also be monitored as part of its remit.
Approximately 50 per cent of UK income tax revenues come from just three per cent of working adults, even though other taxes such as value added tax (VAT) and national insurance (NI) are not weighted as unfairly towards high earners.
Taxpayers with incomes in excess of £2 million rose in number to 5,000 between 2010/11 and the 2014/15 financial year.
The high-net-worth unit at HMRC has collected an additional £1 billion in extra revenue since it launched in 2009 while the “Rising Stars” team collected approximately £6.6 million extra tax in 2013/14, up 35 per cent on the funds it collected in the previous year.
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