Completing your tax return? Don’t rush, HMRC is still missing £42bn

That cash ‘would have filled a lot of this year’s infamous public spending black hole’, says Labour MP

Going after your pennies, and not the pounds (Getty)

As the government scrabbles around to find extra money, there is £42bn going begging that it’s doing precious little to access.

It’s true, it’s rather like searching through drawers, inside cupboards, down the back of the sofa, the children’s piggy banks, anywhere for any spare change, and all the time there is a pile of notes sitting on the coffee table. Well not quite, but not far off.

The £42bn is the total amount of unpaid tax from businesses and individuals. The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that HMRC collected £731.1bn in taxes and duties in 2021-22, a record, but that 5 per cent remained unpaid.