In what the government has called its ‘most ambitious-ever package of measures’, the Budget Red Book sets out a raft of consultations and 36 measures to close the tax gap and also to give HMRC even more powers.

This is all part of the government’s plan to cut the £46.8bn tax gap, which stands at around 5.3% of total tax, uncollected every year. These measures are meant to collect an extra £10bn by the end of the parliament.

One of the eye-catching measures was a new offence of ‘recklessness’ offence for fraudulently evading direct taxes, to align with existing indirect tax offences.

They will also require close companies and their shareholders to report transactions to HMRC.