HM Revenue & Customs very public new ‘no nonsense approach’ on suspected tax avoidance has pushed the backlog of tax disputes to a new record high of 27,246, with a significant rise in the number of high value cases lodged with the Upper Tax Tribunal, law firm Pinsent Masons has said.

The record total includes a rise in the number of high value disputes joining the queue to be heard by the Upper Tax Tribunals; 267 new Upper Tribunal cases have been lodged in the last year, an increase of nearly a third on the previous year, and almost four times as in 2009, when just 70 new cases were lodged with the Upper Tribunal.

The Judicial Appointments Commission is currently recruiting up to four salaried judges and up to 35 fee-paid judges and deputy judges for the First Tier Tax Tribunals, In an attempt to speed up the rate in which tax cases are heard.

The Public Accounts Committee recently published a report criticising HMRC for its ‘unacceptably slow’ action again tax avoiders. in the report, Chairman of the committee Margaret Hodge said “HMRC must do more, faster.”