Corporate tax avoidance crackdown centres on small businesses

A crackdown on tax avoidance by the UK’s small and medium-sized companies led to a 5 per cent increase in the amount of cash collected by HMRC in the most recent tax year, new research reveals.

The research conducted by accountancy group UHY Hacker Young shows that HMRC collected an extra £474m in corporate tax as a result of investigations into SMEs during the 2016/2017 tax year, representing a 5 per cent increase on the previous year.

UHY said that authorities are turning the “spotlight onto small businesses” because they are considered “an easier target than many larger businesses”.