£9.3bn wasted on tax: can you pay less?
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| Tax forms (c) Rex Pictures |
We’re set to waste a record £9.3bn in tax this year by failing to plan and take full advantage of tax allowances. Find out how you can reduce your tax burden and only pay what you owe
Britons will pay almost £9.3bn in unnecessary tax this year, according to the latest TaxAction report from Unbiased.co.uk.
On average we’ll each hand the taxman at least £290 more than we need to, but despite this 82% of people aren’t doing anything to reduce their tax burden.
The amount being wasted is the highest since independent financial adviser website Unbiased.co.uk began its study 16 years ago, with £1.4bn more to be wasted than in 2007.
Where we lose money
The biggest area of waste is in unclaimed tax credits, where we collectively lose out on £3.7bn by failing to claim Pension Credits, Child Tax Credits and Working Family Tax Credits.
We’ll also waste more than £1.9bn in inheritance tax (IHT) despite 20% of people saying IHT is their most hated tax.
The report shows that more than half the population – 34m people – are dissatisfied with the current tax regime.
But David Elms, chief executive of Unbiased.co.uk, says we could pay much less by taking some simple steps: “We’ve seen a lot of talk about stealth taxes and IHT but it hasn't changed the way people deal with tax and too much money is still being wasted and practically gifted to the taxman.”
“With more and more people feeling the pinch in the current financial climate,” Elms adds, “it’s surprising just how much we’re willing to throw away in wasted tax payments.”
