HMRC may write off £1.5bn of unpaid tax
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HM Revenue & Customs is likely to write off up to £1.5bn of unpaid taxes, according to reports.
The BBC says that the vast majority of cases are not going to be pursued as they are over two years old and therefore open to legal challenge from taxpayers.
There is currently a backlog of 7.5 million cases of tax underpayment or overpayment - with the latter estimated at £3bn which will be reimbursed - dating back to 2007-08.
An HMRC spokesman said no decision has been made on the underpayment cases.
The latest cases date back to 2007/08 and are not on HMRC’s new computer system meaning they would have to be dealt with manually.
The news comes on the back of the announcement that a further six million people had been wrongly taxed in the past two years, approximately 1.4 million people who underpaid are expected to receive a new tax bill.
According to the report, front line staff at HMRC have told The Report on Radio 4 that only cases that verge on fraud will be pursued. Cases where money is owed to the taxpayer by the Exchequer will still be processed.
The delay in handling these cases is due to a historic backlog - which at one point reached 30 million - teething problems with introducing a new computing system and the reduction of around 20,000 staff members since 2006.
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