The number of businesses fined by HMRC for deliberately obscuring their corporation tax affairs has climbed to its highest level in four years.
The tax man last year penalised 62 firms for purposefully sending incorrect information to possibly slash the amount of corporation tax they pay, up 35 per cent from 46 in the previous year, according to a freedom of information request response from HMRC.
Despite the uptick in fine volumes, HMRC is watering down the amount of money it asks businesses to cough up for obfuscating their tax affairs.