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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph H.21 of the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) document, Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition: methodological annex, published in October 2015, how much of the large business tax gap in each year since 2009-10 is accounted for by (a) the uplift factor for unidentified risks, (b) unsuccessful litigation by HMRC and (c) HMRC settling for a tax receipt at a lower rate than the tax under consideration that was identified.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470540/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2015-1.pdf

The uplift factor for unidentified risks is set out in Table 7.1, page 62.

HMRC’s method for calculating the Large Business Tax Gap is set out on page 65. All compliance work including litigation is reflected in the estimate of compliance yield shown in Table 7.1. Footnote 6 sets out why this differs from reported compliance yield. The information requested is therefore not available.

HMRC collects the tax due under the law in accordance with the published Litigation and Settlement Strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraphs H.21 to H.6 of the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) document, Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition: methodological annex, published in October 2015, for how many large businesses HMRC tax specialists carried out a detailed review of accounts and CT returns when working out their tax under consideration in each year since 2009-10.

Mr David Gauke

Until 31 March 2014, HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Large Business Service dealt with the tax affairs of around 800 of the largest businesses in the UK. From 1 April 2014 HMRC’s Large Business directorate deals with the tax affairs of around 2,000 large businesses.

HMRC subject large businesses to an exceptional level of scrutiny for all taxes and duties, with half of all the large businesses managed by HMRC’s Large Business directorate under active enquiry at any one time (rising to over two thirds of the very largest and most complex 800 businesses in the UK).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to tables 1.2 and 1.4 of HM Revenue and Customs’ document, Measuring tax gaps, published in October 2013, what assessment HM Revenue and Customs has made of the reasons for which the corporation tax gap for large businesses has narrowed as a percentage while the overall percentage tax gap for large businesses has remained the same since 2009-10; and if he will estimate the large business tax gap for each tax in each year since 2009-10.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470540/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2015-1.pdf

Tables 1.2 and 1.4 of the Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition show different information. Table 1.2 looks specifically at the large business Corporation Tax gap as a percentage of theoretical liabilities for large business Corporation Tax, and Table 1.4 expresses the tax gap for all large businesses taxes (including VAT and income taxes) as a percentage of all theoretical liabilities for all HMRC customer groups. Trends in tax gaps for specific taxes and customer groups are different.

Measuring Tax Gaps does not include full detailed segmentation, such as the requested large business customer group by type of tax, as a number of segments at this level are not sufficiently robust for publication. Table 6.9 on page 53 provides information on the estimated tax gap for large employers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table 1.5 of HM Revenue and Customs’ document, Measuring tax gaps, published in October 2013, how much revenue was lost as a result of the tax gap in (a) tax evasion and (b) the hidden economy in each year since 2009-10.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470540/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2015-1.pdf

The tax gap by behaviour is set out in Figure 1.6 (page 11) and Table 1.5 (page 19). As behaviour estimates are made using management assumptions and judgement, they should be used as a broad indication.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Questions 33571 and 33572, how many tax auditors HM Revenue and Customs provided to Tax Inspectors Without Borders in each year since 2009-10.

Mr David Gauke

The UK’s first Tax Inspectors Without Borders Agreement was signed in December 2015. A partnership agreement was signed with Lesotho committing the UK to a two and a half year programme of assistance. Two HMRC tax experts will be providing support under this Agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32849, which 90 countries will provide automatic offshore account and trust data to the UK; which responsible authorities in the UK will be able to access that data; and whether the 90 countries referred to will also be able to access automatic offshore account and trust data held by the UK.

Mr David Gauke

The UK expects to receive information from the following jurisdictions under the automatic exchange of information agreements it has, or will soon have, in place.

Albania	Colombia	Hong Kong	Marshall Islands	Seychelles
Andorra	Cook Islands	Hungary	Mauritius	Singapore
Anguilla	Costa Rica	Iceland	Mexico	Sint Maarten
Antigua & Barbuda	Croatia	India	Monaco	Slovak Republic
Argentina	Curacao	Indonesia	Montserrat	Slovenia
Aruba	Cyprus	Ireland	Netherlands	South Africa
Austria	Czech Republic	Isle of Man	New Zealand	Spain
Bahamas	Denmark	Israel	Niue	Sweden
Barbados	Dominica	Italy	Norway	Switzerland
Belgium	Estonia	Japan	Poland	Trinidad & Tobago
Belize	Faroe Islands	Jersey	Portugal	Turkey
Bermuda	Finland	Korea	Qatar	Turks & Caicos Islands
Brazil	France	Kuwait	Romania	United Arab Emirates
British Virgin Islands	Germany	Latvia	Russian Federation	Uruguay
Brunei Darassulam	Ghana	Liechtenstein	St Kitts & Nevis	United States*
Bulgaria	Gibraltar	Lithuania	St Lucia
Canada	Greece	Luxembourg	St Vincent & the Grenadines
Cayman Islands	Greenland	Macao	Samoa
Chile	Grenada	Malaysia	San Marino
China	Guernsey	Malta	Saudi Arabia

*The United States has committed to move to full reciprocation of data exchange under the Inter-Governmental Agreement of 12 September 2012. The domestic legislation required in the US for this to happen has not yet been put in place and we have no indication of when this will happen. Until then the UK will continue to receive limited information collected by the Internal Revenue Service under existing regulations –this pertains to interest bearing financial accounts, but not trusts.

The use of the information received is governed by the international agreements under which it is exchanged. As these are international agreements concerned with taxation matters, the information is restricted in its use to the administration, assessment, and collection of taxes covered by the agreement in question for each jurisdiction. As these are functions of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), only HMRC can use the information without further recourse to the sending jurisdiction and the primary use must be the functions of HMRC. Sharing the information found to be relevant to other Government Agencies with those other Agencies is only permitted where the international agreement allows it, and the sending jurisdiction gives express permission that it can be so shared by HMRC. HMRC will always seek to share the information where relevant and possible, and it is our policy to ensure that new agreements and amendments to existing agreements allow such sharing.

The UK expects that most of the automatic exchange agreements with the jurisdictions listed above will be reciprocal. However, not all jurisdictions require information from the UK and in those cases the UK will receive information but send nothing the other way.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many large businesses were recorded on HM Revenue and Customs’ database in each year since 2009-10; how many full-time equivalent staff were on the payrolls of such businesses; and how much in each business tax was paid by such businesses in each of those years.

Mr David Gauke

Until 31 March 2014, HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Large Business Service dealt with the tax affairs of around 800 of the largest businesses in the UK. From 1 April 2014 HMRC’s Large Business directorate deals with the tax affairs of around 2,000 large businesses.

HMRC does not centrally hold large business receipts data for every tax heading, the information for every tax heading could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The number of large businesses and the tax receipts data held centrally for large businesses is:

HMRC’s Large Business directorate:

Number of Businesses	Corporation Tax	Income Tax, National Insurance	VAT	Hydrocarbon Oils	Alcohol & Tobacco
2014-15	2,145	£20bn	£85bn	£52bn	£27bn	£14bn

HMRC’s Large Business Service:

Number of Businesses	Corporation Tax	Income Tax, National Insurance	VAT	Hydrocarbon Oils	Alcohol & Tobacco
2013-14	818	£17bn	£68bn	£41bn	£26bn	£13bn
2012-13	803	£17bn	£64bn	£41bn	£26bn	£13bn
2011-12	783	£21bn	£65bn	£40bn	£26bn	£13bn
2010-11	778	£21bn	£62bn	£34bn	£26bn	£10bn
2009-10	760	£20bn	£58bn	£30bn	£24bn	£11bn

The number of full-time equivalent staff on the payrolls of businesses is not required for tax purposes and HMRC does not hold it.