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HMRC 'on target' after first year of operation

12th January 2006
Page 28
Page 28, 12th January 2006 — HMRC 'on target' after first year of operation
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Judging by its first annual report, HM Revenue and Customs is bad

news for fuel launderers and smugglers alike. Chris Tindall reports.

As HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) first year of operation draws to a close.it claims its focus on tackling illicit fuel use in road transport is paying dividends.

The agency was formed last April by combining the Inland Revenue with Customs & Excise to form, in the words of chairman David Varney, a "modern, effective organisation".

HMRC's first annual report states that detections of illicit fuel use by operators increased to over 2,200 58% of the total. It adds: -We have also tackled the criminal organisations behind the large-scale supply of illicit fuel, breaking up nine gangs and dismantling 26 laundering plants."

As a result, HMRC estimates illegal diesel accounted for 4% of the market in 2004; it is "currently on target to meet our target of reducing the illicit market to no more than 2% by 2007-08, but we recognise the challenge."

The 111-page report devotes just one paragraph on the farce that was last July's unceremonious dumping of the Lorry Road User Charge.

This story filled the pages of the trade press in 2005; the reports simply says: "On 5 July 2005 the government announced that plans for the distance-based charging of lorries will be taken forward as part of wider work on national road prieing.The LRUC programme within HMRC formally closed on 29 September 2005. In acknowledging its high level of satisfaction with what the programme had achieved, the government asked HMRC to ensure that knowledge which will help with the development of national road pricing was passed on to the Department for Transport."

The report fails to mention the cost of the project it is believed that IT consultancy bills alone amounted to £31.2m.

Elsewhere, HMRC seized two billion cigarettes -200 million more than in 2003-04. The report says: "Commercial smuggling, predominantly as maritime freight in containers and RO-RO traffic, remains our highest smuggling risk." But for the first time HMRC officers seized more smuggled cigarettes en route to the UK than in the UK itself.

In response to the increased threat of terrorism in the UK. HMRC is working with the Home Office to install a range of detection equipment at UK ports. It highlights "radiological materials": the equipment should be in place by the end of March 2007. An extra 650 staff will be taken on for this work, with a target of intercepting 95% of vehicles that trigger an alarm.

-We aim to intercept 100% of vehicles but this is not always possible," says the report. "Most alarms are caused by naturally occurring radioactive materials and we don't intercept those that don't give any cause for concern." •


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