HMRC targets horsebox owners

Household money

Updated on 15 May 2015 | 9 Comments

Latest target in crackdown on tax evasion.

Horsebox owners are the latest targets of HM Revenue & Customs investigation teams, as part of its crackdown on tax evasion.

According to accountancy firm James Cowper Kreston, the taxman believes that the line is being blurred between business and personal use, and as a result not enough tax is being paid.

It suspects farmers and rural businesses of buying the horsebox through their company, falsely claiming it as a business expense, or failing to declare personal use of the horsebox and paying tax on it as a ‘benefit in kind’.

Fiona Hawkins, a senior manager at the firm, said that large equine firms make significant investment in horseboxes and are likely to account for their use correctly. Instead it’s those farming or rural businesses which mix business use with taking their children’s ponies to a weekend show that the taxman will be cracking down on.

Hawkins argued that the taxman is unlikely to punish honest mistakes – you’ll just have to repay the tax you owe. However, if you mislead HMRC you could be hit with an additional penalty of anything from 20% to 100%.

Officials even use the likes of Google Street View and DVLA records to monitor the lifestyles of suspected tax evaders, according to the firm.

While any recovered tax is likely to be relatively small in the grand scheme of things, this latest campaign does suggest that the taxman is taking cracking down on deliberate evaders seriously.  

There have also been campaigns aimed at recovering unpaid tax from medical professionals, plumbers, electricians and landlords.

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