HMRC 'used 150 inspectors for single company'

Date: 31st January 2008

A public company was subject to scrutiny from 150 HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) inspectors recently, according to comments made by the acting chairman of the organisation.

According to Accountancy Age, in making comments to MPs in response to questions about corporation tax Dave Hartnett claimed that he told the head of one public company that a number of inspectors would be used in his organisation.

Describing what happens when he personally meets with the chairman of a public company, Mr Hartnett said he looks the person "straight in the eye to explain why and how we are conducting an investigation".

"That is why I told the chairman of a public company not many weeks ago that we are putting 150 tax inspectors into his company," he added, according to Accountancy Age, without naming the company or the issues involved.

Mr Hartnett was appointed acting chairman of HMRC in November 2007 and joined the Inland Revenue in 1976, according to the HMRC website.