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23 Aug 2021

So you may already be familiar with this type of fraud – tax fraud and tax evasion. It is a very commonly occurring fraud that is committed by millions of people on a daily basis. Tax fraud occurs when individuals try to cheat the system and pay less tax than they are obligated to pay. Our fraud solicitor will be able to tell you that there are a number of ways that tax fraud can be committed. This includes not reporting income accurately, making false claims, or using false social security numbers. If you feel that you need more assistance with identifying tax fraud and tax evasion then contact our firm, ABV Solicitors, who will be able to provide you with friendly, professional and expert advice and will be able to deal with your needs and requirements effectively.

How is tax fraud and tax evasion committed?

Millions of people commit tax fraud on a daily basis and this can be done in the course of their business or as an individual. It is easy to commit fraud and often people do this unknowingly, however some individuals are also intelligent and have learnt how to essentially cheat the system. Our fraud solicitor will tell you that such individuals are experts at falsifying documents and hiding income to avoid paying taxes. In the case of companies individuals are able to use their companies to their advantage by declaring personal expenditure as company expenses. This enables them to enjoy the benefits of personal spending and not paying taxes by falsely claiming them as business expenses, which do not require tax to be paid on them.

Another type of fraud that our fraud solicitor will inform you about that is committed by millions of individuals across the UK is social security benefit fraud. This is a very big problem for the UK government and there have been many attempts to try and tighten the laws and regulations, making them more stringent. Social security benefit fraud arises where an individual who is not legally entitled to social security benefits claims these benefits by falsifying information about their personal circumstances and income. Similar to tax evasion, these individuals are also very intelligent and will cheat the system to their advantage.

There are many ways of committing social security benefit fraud and this includes not declaring full income, falsely claiming benefits, working while claiming benefits, failing to report savings, and housing benefit fraud amongst an exhaustive list of other ways in which social security benefit fraud can be committed. The UK is the most targeted country for social security benefit fraud due to the generosity of the system. In the UK the government pays out billions of pounds in benefits and a large proportion of this is being given out to individuals who do not need the money. This strains the government and the financial system and is also unfair for those individuals who genuinely require assistance, but are unable to gain access to benefits due to the fact that some individuals are committing fraud and unfairly gaining an advantage.