HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has declared that its latest estimated tax gap for the UK is 6.5% of tax due – equating to £36 billion.

Out of HMRC’s estimate of the tax gap – the difference between the amount of tax due and the amount collected – for 2014-15, £9.5bn was attributed to large businesses, with £600m related to large business tax avoidance.

HMRC’s Chief Executive Jon Thompson said:

“If we are to ensure a fairer and more effective tax system, and more money for public services, we must keep up the pressure on the tax gap by relentlessly pursuing the small minority who seek to cheat their taxes through evasion, aggressive avoidance and organised crime.”

Vicky Johnson, President of the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC), the FDA’s section representing senior HMRC officials, said that “by letting ARC’s warnings go unheeded, the Government has missed yet another opportunity to help close the tax gap”.

She added: “ARC has been consistently stating for many years now that a perfect storm is being created within HMRC, due to a lack of sufficient investment coupled with a significant and rising pay disparity between senior HMRC managers and professionals and their private sector counterparts.”