They go in to note that in the last eight months of 2020 HMRC made only 80 data requests to users of internet sales platforms compared to 2,684 the year before despite VAT evasion through such platforms being estimated to cost £1bn-£1.5bn a year in lost tax revenue. For all practical purposes that is the collapse of a tax system.
Well, no, not really:
Changes to VAT treatment of overseas goods sold to customers from 1 January 2021
….
Online marketplaces (OMPs), where they are involved in facilitating the sale, will be responsible for collecting and accounting for the VAT.For goods sent from overseas and sold directly to UK consumers without OMP involvement, the overseas seller will be required to register and account for the VAT to HMRC.
Why faff about doing piddly details when you’ve got a new law just about to come in that solves the problem entirely?
QTWTAIY
So, the year that HMRC had a concerted push to tackle the situation saw lots of enquiries being opened, and the year after that, when HMRC were still working through those cases, had hardly any new ones.
In 18 months’ time he’ll be complaining about the massive drop in coronavirus vaccinations between 2021 and 2022. If we could vaccinate 50 million people one year, surely we should be able to vaccinate even more the next!
Is this an inverse Betteridge?
Yes he is
You’d have thought in a pandemic even the HMRC would have issues with staffing shortages and disruption to normal work pattern so may have chosen to delay some work.
What would be more interesting is what % of HMRC staff were paid to do sweet FA as they couldn’t pull their finger out organisationally and sort out alternative work patterns?