15. HMRC is blurring the difference between ‘avoidance’ and ‘evasion’

There has always been a difference between tax ‘avoidance’ and tax ‘evasion’. Until now you’ve probably thought of avoidance as legal tax planning and of evasion as something ending in court. Unfortunately, HMRC is making the distinction more and more blurred.

Tax expert Ken Frost of www.hmrcisshite.com says, “Tax avoidance (reducing your taxable income by making use of your legitimate allowances, is legal so there is nothing wrong with tax avoidance! It is tax evasion (hiding taxable income) that is illegal. We all practice tax avoidance by the very fact that we use personal allowances, ISA’s, tax credits etc.”