News today to put a spring in your step.

The Court of Appeal in a landmark case has backed the Revenue and Customs (HMRC) who are breathing down the necks of tax exiles. And about time too.

The Revenue and Customs claim Robert Gaines-Cooper has been a UK resident since 1976 even though he says he lives in the Seychelles. They want a staggering sum of money in back taxes.

HMRC issued guidance last year on the meaning of UK residency. It now turns on the “pattern of lifestyle”

In its report on the case today, the FT reveals that Gaines-Cooper “owns an estate in Oxfordshire where he keeps his collection of paintings, classic cars and guns”. The Court agreed with the Revenue that he has not “severed his social and family ties with the UK”.

Why is it that so many of the super rich, dividing their time between tax havens and their safe houses in the developed world, are often portrayed as swashbuckling entrepreneurs, with a flair for turning dust into gold?

In reality, they are playing the system for all it is worth. I see them as pirates of the Caribbean - or Indian Ocean. Defrauding the rest of us by refusing to pay their fair share.

In December, HMRC published a handy and accessible little paper “Protecting Tax Revenues 2009”. It analyses the “tax gap” – the difference between the tax that should be paid and the tax that is, in fact, collected. The size of the UK tax gap is estimated to be around £40 billion in 2007/8.

The Revenue is progressively closing the loopholes, turning up the heat on the evaders and avoiders and the tax exiles.

The paper discloses that HMRC’s efforts in tackling offshore tax evasion have delivered £450 million since 2007.

The Revenue tells us: “Protecting tax revenues against fraud and artificial avoidance schemes is essential if the tax system is to support the Government’s wider economic and social objectives. The vast majority contribute their fair share towards the funding of public services. However, the minority who do not put pressure on the public finances and impose costs, including higher taxes, on others. This undermines fairness and confidence in the tax system.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

You can access “Protecting Tax Revenues" at: www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2009/protect-tax-revenue-5450.htm