National Audit Office report on HMRC

The National Audit Office has been looking at the taxman's performance for the 2005-06 tax year (see pdf).

Here are some highlights from the taxman's report card: 

• In that year, the taxman collected £405 billion in tax (including £91 billion of national insurance contributions.
• The Comptroller General and Auditor General (ie the official who checks the taxman's books) is still not happy with the level of tax credit error and fraud.
• The taxman paid out a net sum of £17.3 billion in tax credits. He estimates that there will be overpayments and underpayments similar to 2004-05. In that tax year, the taxman overpaid tax credits by £1.8 billion, and underpaid by £556 million. In 2005-06, £397 million worth of overpayments were written off, and the taxman made a provision for £409 million for doubtful debts.
• Regarding Pay as You Earn (PAYE), the taxman estimates that there is about £1 billion unpaid each year. At the same time, the taxman reveals that taxpayers have overpaid by £500 million, with the result that 5.7 million taxpayers may not be paying the right amount of tax.

The Fisherman's verdict? Poor. Really must try harder.