UK’s tax waste mountain grows to a record £10 billion

British taxpayers will waste over £10 billion in unnecessary tax in 2009, according to the latest Tax Action report from Unbiased.co.uk, the professional advice website. The amount of tax wasted through poor financial planning will increase by £700 million in 2009 compared to 2008, amounting to the highest ever wastage since Unbiased.co.uk's campaign began 17 years ago.

Alarmingly, despite this ever increasing tax waste mountain, British people are still not taking action to save money and reduce the amount of tax they pay. Over four fifths of UK taxpayers (81%) admit to doing nothing to reduce their tax payments over the past year. And with the credit crunch putting an ever growing strain on people's finances, it is more important than ever for people to act now and claim back their unnecessary tax payments.

David Elms, chief executive of professional advice website Unbiased.co.uk comments, "With individuals and families forced to tighten their belts this year, it is alarming how little people are doing to take advantage of the tax incentives, reliefs and credits available to them, and to avoid being hit by fines for basic mistakes. We estimate that each UK taxpayer will waste an average of over £191 in tax payments this year, although this sum varies greatly based on lifestage and financial circumstances."
Unbiased.co.uk reveals that Greater London is the UK's tax waste capital, with over £1.4 billion being lost in tax. Londoners desperately need to take responsibility to become more tax efficient, and stop wasting their hard earned cash. Londoners are closely followed by the rest of the South East in their tax wastage. While Northern Ireland is the most tax efficient with only £290 million being lost, there is still room for many to claw back unnecessary tax payments and reassess their tax breaks.

New research from Unbiased.co.uk, which hosts a ‘find an IFA' search, reveals that Inheritance Tax (IHT) is the most resented tax by one in four Brits (24%). In spite of this, unnecessary IHT payments are set to rise by over £300 million in 2009 to a predicted total waste of over £2.2 billion. IHT payments may not be so despised by UK taxpayers if people took simple steps to reduce the amount given to the tax man through these perceived ‘death taxes'.

David Elms of Unbiased.co.uk concludes, "Despite some people starting to change their mentality from spend to save, our 2009 Tax Action report shows that taxpayers still haven't changed the way they deal with tax and too much money is still being wasted unnecessarily. Tax can seem a complex issue and especially in the current environment many are nervous about making the wrong financial decisions. An independent financial adviser can assess your entire financial position and ensure you are being as tax efficient as possible. It is vital that people act now and save money, so we don't see this increase again next year."

Check out how much you could be savings by being tax efficient with Unbiased.co.uk's tax waste calculator.