MPs voice concerns over shock £40bn lost tax

THE taxman is failing to collect nearly £40billion owed to the Treasury every year, figures reveal.

- By Jonathan Walker Whitehall Editor

It has led a group of MPs to say they are worried that the number of prosecutions brought by HMRC is falling.

They have now warned that failing to take criminal action will make tax evaders think they can get away with it.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: "HMRC has now secured more funds to allow it to pursue what's owed to it, and has a welcome new goal to reduce the gap in unpaid tax.

"We would urge it to use its new resources not to just go after low-hanging fruit, but to do more to recover older debts lest they become uncollectable, as well as to better understand what more may be hidden offshore.

"Further, if it is serious in its plans to reduce its prosecutions, it should also explain what the best means of deterring criminal tax evaders may be."