The taxman is set to ramp up its compliance campaigns by aiming to influence future taxpayers before they even have their first pay packet, with the release of videos for teachers to use in the classroom which feature a ghost-busting team to catch non-payers of income tax
A new animated film to be released later this month for use as teaching material for 14 – 17 year old shows animated characters representing HMRC who chase tax evaders, which look like ghosts according to a number of tax experts who attended the exclusive stakeholder conference.
The animation is supposed to represent the ‘hidden economy’ of individuals who disguise their sources of income.
One attendee told Accountancy Live: 'My break-out group at the HMRC conference had a video, that could have been aimed at children, but the acoustics in the brick room were so awful, I couldn’t pick up anything meaningful. There was a ghost on the screen but it was an animation from memory and not an actor. As it was impossible to hear I have no notes.'
The new video will be launched in the next few weeks, according to an HMRC spokesperson.
He said: 'The video is animated, it's about empowering kids to understand the financial world, it has nothing to do with getting kids to let us know about tax evasion... that is bunkum.'
The video forms part of resources HMRC has prepared for citizenship lessons, which are compulsory in secondary schools in England, and which cover personal finance topics and how to contribute to society.
The department’s Tax Matters website already offers a range of lesson plans, powerpoints, worksheets and other suggestions of content for teachers to use to explain how the tax system works and the importance of paying tax once students go out into the world of work.
The teaching modules cover PAYE, national insurance and tax and society, and includes case studies of young people as they move into employment.
However, the latest video clip follows an HMRC campaign of two years ago which encouraged schoolchildren to tell their teachers if they knew of anyone who was not paying their fair share of tax and has drawn criticism for its approach.
This is part of a broader HMRC campaign to crack down on moonlighting and 'the ghost economy'.
Jennie Granger, director general enforcement and compliance, said: ‘Educating young people so they don’t get tempted is vital. We are very proud this film is part of the national curriculum.’
