With today’s arrival of the traditional deadline for self assessment tax returns, builders will make more mistakes and false claims than any other tradesperson or professional, according to advisers.
A poll by information provider Bloomsbury Professional found that almost of third of accountants (32.6%) believe building to be the occupation most likely to see its members providing incorrect information on tax returns.
The industry is regularly scrutinised by HMRC because of the high number of payments thought to be made off the books, and the amounts involved can be substantial. The department has in the past asked property owners to disclose the identity of builders they have paid in cash to evade VAT.
‘Perhaps more than any other trade, builders frequently deal with quite large sums of cash. This makes accurate recordkeeping challenging and creates numerous opportunities for tax evasion,’ said Bloomsbury Professional’s managing director, Martin Casimir.
The second most popular choice in the survey was taxi driver (10.9%), with personal service company contractor, including IT consultant, coming third with (8.7%).
With 4.3% of the vote, accountants themselves were named as the equal-sixth most likely group to file inaccurate tax returns, putting the profession on a par with buy-to-let investors, solicitors, doctors, dentists and restaurateurs.
Bloomsbury’s findings come just days after HMRC’s permanent secretary for tax, Dave Hartnett urged taxpayers to blow the whistle on anyone they know to be involved in cash-in-hand deals.
