And has anyone done the sums of the cost of all this against losses? OK so
there is a principal at stake, but I'd be willing to bet a fair number of
these prosecutions will fail.
What about all those want your trees cut back, garden mowed, tarmac drive
merchants though?

Brian

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"Nick" wrote in message
...
I've received the following today, maybe old news to some but it appears
the noose is being tightened:

"Five plumbers have been arrested and around 600 are under civil
investigation by HM Revenue & Customs.

Earlier this year HMRC offered an amnesty to tax-evading plumbers and
members of related trades. The Plumbers Tax Safe Plan offered them
immunity from prosecution penalties limited to 20 per cent if they
revealed their previously undeclared income.

But there was a poor response from the self-employed plumbing fraternity,
many of whom do not regard HMRC's mailshots as essential reading, and do
not employ tax advisers. By the time it closed at the end of May, the
amnesty had produced only 600 voluntary disclosures and yielded a paltry
GBP330,000 in extra tax receipts.

HM then announced it intended to follow up its offer by prosecuting some
of those who had failed to take advantage of it. These arrests, which took
place in London, Hampshire, Surrey, Middlesex and West Bromwich, are the
first results of this action. More raids will take place soon across the
UK, including Yorkshire, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Tyne & Wear, Midlands and
South Wales.

HMRC says it is considering hundreds of further cases for criminal
investigation. Some of those involved are said to owe as much as
GBP150,000 in back tax and penalties.

"People should not underestimate the amount of data that HMRC is holding",
commented Gary Ashford of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. He noted
that HMRC has already announced plans to increase the number of evasion
prosecutions by a factor of five.

As well as plumbers, HMRC's targets include medical professionals who
refused to disclose their income under a previous profession-specific
amnesty, the Tax Health Plan. A similar amnesty aimed at private tutors
and Internet traders will begin soon"