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Like most other government departments, HM Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) is to lose a part of its budget as a result of
the spending review.
The Chancellor introduced cuts of 15 per cent in real
terms in the tax authority's spending.
HMRC has been briefed to make the savings through a
reduction in admin costs and a more effective targeting of customer
services.
Processes that cause the greatest number of errors,
such as VAT registrations, are to be redesigned.
The government said that the backlog of PAYE under-
or overpayment cases should be cleared by 2012. HMRC will also be
conducting the next stage of the consultation on improving the PAYE
system, examining how best to manage a real time information
process. The purpose is to ease the administrative burden of tax
management on employers.
Despite the cuts, HMRC has been granted an extra £900
million over the next four years to tackle the issue of tax
avoidance. The plan is that the additional resources will enable
HMRC to recover some £7 billion a year in underpaid or unpaid tax by
2014/15. |
