Millions ‘missing from public purse’ | AI ‘biggest tech trend since 2010’ | Shein insists it ‘doesn’t cheat’ on tax
Millions or billions more could be missing from the public purse as the estimated £5.5bn lost to tax evasion in 2022-2023 could be a “significant underestimate”, writes our business and economics reporter Sarah Taaffe-Maguire.
According to a report from the Public Accounts Committee of MPs, the full scale of the evasion problem is unknown as HMRC is “not sufficiently curious” and has “no strategy for tackling it”.
Between 5% and 20% of UK registered companies were fraudulent in 2023, and loopholes in the system make it all too easy for fraudulent behaviour to go unchecked, the report found.
It said the issue has been exacerbated by a lack of collaboration between HMRC, Companies House and the Insolvency Service.
AI will be the “single biggest tech trend since the tablet”, the chief executive of Currys has said.
Speaking at an event aimed at businesses, LIVE 2025, Alex Baldock said the retailer has a 75% market share of the AI products on the market, and more customers want to find out about them.
“We think this is going to be the single biggest tech tends since the tablet in 2010,” he said.
He accepted that Currys wasn’t particularly advanced in the use of AI, but that it planned to be the “standout beneficiaries” of the technology.
“I’m a retailer, I like flogging stuff,” he said, accepting that AI has helped the company do that.
Shein has insisted that “misperceptions” about its ability to deliver cheap products quickly are wrong, and that it does not dodge duties or use tax loopholes.
Speaking at an event aimed at businesses, LIVE 2025, Peter Pernot-Day, the fast fashion brand’s head of strategic affairs for North America, said: “We don’t cheat, we compete.”
He told crowds that Shein was here to “compete fairly” and wants a “level playing field” for all retailers.
“I’m here to tell you that we do not rely on customs policy to be successful,” he added.
Instead, he said Shein’s success has come from being a company that has focused on having a fully digitised system and that makes fashion accessible to everyone.
Shein has been accused of maximising the use of a customs tax loophole in its business model, which allows it to ship small parcels directly to shoppers without paying duties.
In the US, Donald Trump has announced plans to close the loophole, meaning Shein could face higher operational costs.
The UK government has been under pressure from British retailers to make the same move.
But no changes have been made yet, and Shein is planning a £50bn London stock market float this year.
