In the wake of the self-assessment tax returns deadline (and ensuing email scams), Unbiased have released their 19th Annual Tax Action Report, which claims that the tax paying UK public have handed over an extra £13.5billion to HMRC through mistakes, or by not operating tax efficiently. In a period of relative austerity, perhaps it’s time people took a closer look at their finances to ensure they’re not overpaying (Take a look at our Guides category for some hints).
According to the report the majority of wastage is in the form of unclaimed tax credits (Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits, Pension Credits etc.) – amounting to a staggering £8.5billion. In a distant second place is Inheritance Tax, with a still-fairly-whopping £1.3billion loss.
The report also details the UK’s so-called “Tax Apathy”, whereby very few people are actually taking action to be as tax-efficient as possible. Of those surveyed, 88% said they had taken no action to improve their tax situation in the last year (there was also an interesting split between the genders – that number went up to 94% amongst women).
Aside from the Tax Apathy, the report also reveals a phenomenon we are calling “Tax Stupidity” – namely that 45% of those who did nothing to improve their tax efficiency believed they were already operating as efficiently as possible, and an extra-stupid 12% say they have no idea why they aren’t taking action.
Unsurprisingly London and the South East proved the most wasteful region, throwing away around £3.5billion – almost half of which was in London alone.
You can read the full report here.
Photo by Jan Brašna – CC
