Call For Taxpayer Equal Treatment After Inquiry

Labour has expressed concern over findings by a report on Tuesday that found big business and the taxman had a "cosy" relationship.

In a letter to the Chancellor George Osborne, Labour's Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said she was extremely concerned by the report by the Public Accounts Committee on HM Revenue & Customs' relationship with large companies.

The report by MPs was called a 'damning indictment' of the UK's tax service, accusing big business and the tax department of having a "cosy relationship", while slamming tax officials for being evasive and withholding information.

Responding to the report on Wednesday, Rachel Reeves said: "The fact that evidence to the Committee by officials was imprecise, inconsistent, and potentially misleading, raises serious concerns about the running of HMRC.

"Officials are answerable to Parliament, not to large companies and if the Government has nothing to hide then it should immediately disclose the information requested by the Committee about corporate taxpayers."

The Commons Public Accounts Committee report found there was more than £25 billion outstanding in unresolved tax bills and criticised HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officials for refusing to cooperate with the enquiry.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Margaret Hodge, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: "This report is a damning indictment of HMRC and the way its senior officials handle tax disputes with large corporations. We uncovered both specific and systemic failures, which must be addressed.

On Wednesday, HMRC rejected the conclusion of the committee, that there are systemic failures in the management of tax disputes.

"The report is based on partial information, inaccurate opinion and some misunderstanding of facts," a spokesman said.

"HMRC’s internal processes are robust and this was confirmed by a recent review by the National Audit Office of large business settlements. HMRC agrees that public confidence in processes is important and, as HMRC has already informed the PAC, HMRC propose to make further improvements to governance and to increase transparency about the work with large business."

(DW)