Tax Avoidance, Evasion and Compliance

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 7:59 pm on 4 March 2019.

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Photo of Mel Stride Mel Stride Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General 7:59, 4 March 2019

I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman when he says that big businesses should be paying their fair share of tax, which is why half of the largest companies at any one time in the UK are being looked at closely or investigated by HMRC. That is not to say that they are doing anything wrong, but it is to indicate that we and HMRC take looking into the tax affairs of large companies extremely seriously. He will be aware of the measures we have brought forward in various Finance Bills specifically aimed at large companies, be it the legislation that has come out of the OECD BEPS—base erosion and profit shifting—project or the diverted profits tax measures of 2015. We do take this very seriously. We are a world leader at bringing in taxation, not least from large companies.