HMRC wired up for an Electricians Amnesty

HM Revenue & Customs has announced that electricians will be the next group of trades targeted as part of its crackdown on tax evasion.

The Electrician's Tax Safe Plan will be launched in February 2012 and will offer favourable terms for electricians to come forward and declare any unpaid tax. Following this, HM Revenue & Customs will target those in the trade who have not come forward.

This campaign follows the Plumber's Tax Safe Plan launched this year. Around 600 voluntary disclosures during the campaign brought in £328,000 to the Treasury. That must be considered a nice little earner for HMRC who had little to do except wait for the disclosures to come in, assess the tax & send out the bill. The second stage of the campaign involving targetting those who did not voluntarily come forward resulted in five arrests and investigations opened into a further 600 people.

Our view : If you are an Electrician and believe that you have underpaid tax by not fully declaring income then use the amnesty opportunity:  we will see the Revenue making greater use of Section 16 notices over the coming months, to obtain third party information before the amnesty begins in February.