Inland Revenue Details

What once was the Inland Revenue Department is now known as the Her Majesty’s (HM) Revenue and Customs department. This department collects and distributes the responsibilities of the departments that were combined to make it. By combining the different departments, all the tax-related issues are handled by one team rather than several. Some responsibilities include:

  • Making money available for the public system in the UK,
  • Providing for families in need of financial assistance,
  • Paying statutory sick pay and maternity leave,
  • Facilitating legitimate international trade,
  • Collecting student loan payments,
  • And paying out Child Benefit.

The HMRC also devotes itself to putting an end to tax avoidance. The department designed a Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes to know what people are doing to avoid paying taxes. HMRC reviews and fixes any tax policy so that loopholes are closed.

Example of Inland Revenue

Inland Revenue would have been the department that collected taxes from your paycheck each time. Anytime a corporation paid out taxes it would have gone to Inland Revenue. If you were a family with a low income you would have applied to the Inland Revenue for the Working Tax Credit.

If you had children and received the Child Tax Credit all that information would have been processed by the Inland Revenue and the payment would have come from them. However, all of these things are now handled by the HM Revenue and Customs department.

History of Inland Revenue

The Inland Revenue Department was started in 1849 in the UK by combining the Board of Excise and the Board of Stamps and Taxes. The Board of Excise was established in 1643 and collected duties levied at the point of manufacturing on certain British products. The Board of Stamps and Taxes started in 1834 and handled things like land and house taxes, income taxes, and stamp duties.

After forming the Inland Revenue, it collected income taxes, capital gains taxes, corporate taxes, inheritance taxes, and stamp duty. The department also handled the excise issues until 1909 when those duties were transferred to the Board of Customs and Excise.

The Inland Revenue paid out certain benefits to eligible people. In 2003 it started paying out a benefit called the Working Tax Credit (WTC) that provides payments to working individuals, couples, or families with low income. Another benefit was the Child Tax Credit. In 2005 the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise were combined to form the HM Revenue and Customs.

Significance of Inland Revenue

The Inland Revenue was the department that used to handle all matters in relation to taxes on income and benefits where eligibility was based on income. But now all of that has been passed on to the HM Revenue and Customs where it can be processed under one roof and by one team instead of several.