HMRC head accused of letting tax avoiders off 'scot free'
HMRC boss Lin Homer has admitted that dozens of wealthy tax dodgers have avoided prosecution and that HSBC will probably not face any penalties for helping them do it.
Appearing before the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Dame Lin - who received her damehood in the New Year honours list - agreed that HMRC was 'unlikely' to bring any prosecutions over claims that HSBC's Swiss arm helped wealthy clients evade tax.
The Financial Conduct Authority ruled out regulatory action against the bank earlier this month.
"The message which goes out is loud and clear: it's evade your taxes and you are not going to be prosecuted," commented Conservative MP Stephen Phillips. "It looks like they have got away scot free."
He added: "I - and I suspect most Members of Parliament - would find it extraordinary that a bank that is domiciled in this jurisdiction with oversight of its Swiss subsidiary has not had action taken against it either by its regulator or by you, who are responsible for investigating it and passing papers to the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] to conduct criminal prosecutions if appropriate."
Dame Lin said HMRC didn't believe there were grounds for a criminal prosecution.
Around 35 corporate firms and wealthy individuals are currently prosecuted each year for tax evasion, but the department plans to increase that to around 100 by 2020.
She added: "Across the whole spectrum we do not prosecute everybody in every category, so there will always be individuals that we don't prosecute."."I reject the assertion that we have ignored rich people."
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Dame Lin was also criticised over HMRC's poor customer service, with as many as half of all phone calls to the department going unanswered in the first half of last year.
She said that at the moment, the department was managing to answer three-quarters of phone calls, saying this showed things were getting 'better and better'.
Dame Lin announced her early retirement last week, and is planning to leave her £185,000-a-year post in April with a pension pot worth more than £2 million.
