Pictured above: Phil Luty

Dains, Midlands based Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers are warning that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced it is to target individuals and businesses who are trading above the VAT threshold but have not registered for VAT in a new drive against rule breakers. 

The campaign will be launched in the summer, following discussions with interested parties to help HMRC design the campaign. The VAT threshold is currently £73,000 turnover on a rolling annual basis.

Announcing the initiative on 20 May, Mike Wells, HMRC's director of risk and intelligence, said: "Our aim is to get as much input as possible into our future campaigns so that the views and experience of people and organisations outside the department play a fuller part in what we design for customers."

Phil Luty, VAT Director at Dains: said "Previous HMRC projects have targeted savers in offshore investments, medical professionals and workers in the plumbing industry. 

"The department says its campaigns focus on areas where it has identified significant underpayment and that they provide straightforward opportunities for customers to put their records in order on the best possible terms, followed by swift action to target those who choose not to take up those opportunities."

HMRC indicates that previous projects have raised over £500 million from voluntary disclosures and a further £100 million from follow-up activity.

Meanwhile, the first of a series of new HMRC task forces to tackle tax dodgers will focus on the restaurant trade, targeting businesses in London, Scotland and North Wales over the coming weeks.

These specialist teams will carry out concentrated compliance activity in specific high risk trade sectors and locations across the UK. This comes as part of the Government's aim to tackle tax evasion, avoidance and fraud from 2011/12 and raise an additional £7 billion each year by 2014/15.