Chancellor tells HMRC to raise extra £17bn

Improving tax collection and delivering cost reductions are the priority actions the Chancellor has given to HM Revenue and Customs for the next few years.

In an open letter to HMRC's new Chief Executive, Chancellor George Osborne told the Department that he expected HMRC to secure at least £17 billion in additional revenue over the next year. He expects that £4 billion of this will be collected as a result of the additional investment of £917 million from efficiency savings into tackling 'tax avoidance, evasion and criminal attack'.

In his remit for HMRC, the Chancellor set out his priorities in the following areas:

• improving tax collection;
  
• delivering cost reductions;
  
• improving services for individual and business customers;
  
• Real Time Information; and
  
• tax policy and the policy partnership.