HMRC’s High Net Worth Unit
HMRC’s High Net Worth Unit (HNWU) was established in 2009 to deal with taxpayers who have wealth in excess of £20 million. HMRC uses details from tax returns and other public information databases to identify almost 6,200 of the country’s taxpayers who are handled by the HNWU. In certain circumstances HMRC will also handle family members connected to a high net worth individual from within the HNWU.
New figures recently published by HMRC have revealed that the HNWU raised £268m from tax enquiries in 2013/14 an increase of 20% over the previous year. Since 2009, the HNWU has raised a total of over £1 billion in compliance yield.
Commenting on the figures, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said:
‘HMRC vigorously polices the rules ensuring it collects the tax that is due, and takes tough action against the minority who seek to avoid their responsibilities. This approach is clearly working as HMRC’s High Net Worth Unit has delivered £1 billion in compliance yield. This is against targets totaling £894 million and is further evidence that the government’s investment of nearly £1 billion in HMRC to tackle avoidance, evasion and fraud is paying off.’