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U.K. Tax Prosecutions Unlikely to Meet Targets Due to Budget Cuts, Say Industry Analysts

By Irene Madongo

The United Kingdom's tax enforcement agency is unlikely to meet prosecution targets set for the financial year due to crippling funding cuts, say sources. Expected to prosecute 1,165 people annually by 2014-15, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is facing heavy scrutiny, with new analysis showing that the department prosecuted just 795 cases in the past fiscal year, according to a study by Thomson Reuters-owned legal information service Practical Law. Separately, a report published last month by U.K. economist and tax analyst Richard Murphy estimates that tax evasion cost the United Kingdom 73 billion [pounds] in fiscal year 2012, rising to...

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