HMRC have developed new software to help them decide if a
tax return looks wrong, or if they think someone is not paying enough tax. This
new software is known as ‘Connect’, and it pools information from varying
sources to help create a picture of what someone’s tax affairs should look
like.
Information is drawn from the various departments of HMRC
(tax returns, employer records, national insurance records, VAT etc) and is
combined this with information from other government databases such as the Land
Registry, Companies House, DVLA, and the electoral roll. It has been rumoured
that Connect tracks airport movements so they can see when people travel in and
out of the UK.
HMRC have had access to certain bank account information for
some time and in recent years they have signed many agreements with other
countries to also share this information.
From time to time HMRC will target certain sectors and the
suggestion is that they collect information from specific databases to help
with this – for example Landlord information cross referenced with Land
Registry and council tax data.
There has also been the suggestion that HMRC also track
social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to help build up a picture of
someone and their tax records!
