Benefits fraud costs the government £1.3bn a year, according to official statistics, while the gap between tax owed and tax paid is put at £34bn a year by officials.
3,700 department of work and pensions (DWP) staff have been assigned to investigate welfare fraud, while 700 work at HM Revenue and Customs in the two units whose job it is to investigate the wealthiest 500,000 people living in the UK.
HMRC’s “affluent unit”, launched in October 2011, now employs 320 investigators, focusing on individuals with assets of more than £1m and income of more than £150,000 a year. The tax office’s “high net worth” unit, which has a further 400 investigators , focuses on the estimated 6,200 UK residents worth more than £20m in assets.
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Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said taxpayers were missing out on £16bn a year, as a result of evasion and criminal activity.
HMRC needed to increase the number of investigations, and prosecute more wealthy tax evaders, the MPs said.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36044321
The Government's tax man only investigates 35 wealthy individuals for tax evasion each year.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hmrc-only-investigates-35-wealthy-individuals-each-year-a6985241.html
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