HMRC’s use of artificial intelligence to profile people’s social media activity will increase tax compliance, according to leading audit, tax and business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.
Fiona Fernie, a partner at the firm, said that HMRC’s CONNECT system has been deploying advanced analytics since the early 2000s to spot underpaid tax. “CONNECT uses (and has always used) advanced analytics such as pattern recognition, predictive modelling, and machine learning, which are all forms of AI. Social media is just one of the many sources CONNECT reviews,” she explained.
CONNECT, developed by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence at an estimated cost of between £45 million and £100 million, has reportedly helped recover more than £3 billion in unpaid tax.
Fernie highlighted the efficiency gains such technology offers HMRC investigators. “CONNECT can identify the patterns and anomalies in the data it reviews in seconds where human investigation would take months,” she said. “It not only enables real-time risk profiling; it also supports the work carried out by HMRC staff during the course of investigations.”
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
