Big UK firms owe £2.7bn in unpaid VAT

HMRC is missing out on a total of £2.7bn in underpaid VAT, a new study has revealed.

HMRC suspects 208 of the UK’s 2,000 largest businesses have underpaid VAT by an average of £13.4m each, according to fresh analysis by Thomson Reuters.

The study said that the £13.4m figure relates to “tax under consideration”, which is an estimate of the amount of VAT HMRC believes has gone unpaid, prior to full tax investigations being completed.