Prosecutions for tax crimes in the UK by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), reached a three-year high of 300 by 30 September 2024, a 19% increase from the previous year’s 252 cases.
The rise in prosecutions is attributed to increased funding for HMRC, which has enabled more tax investigations.
International law firm Pinsent Masons highlights this trend, noting the impact of recent government budgets.
The number of new tax investigations opened by HMRC in the third quarter of 2024 was 93,000, the highest in three and a half years.
For the past three years, the average number of investigations opened per quarter was 78,000.
Pinsent Masons legal director Ian Robotham said: “With HMRC having been given another £1.4bn in last month’s Budget to hire an additional 5,000 compliance staff, we can expect to see both the Government and the tax authority continue to push hard on investigations.”
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By GlobalData“With more resources, HMRC can more fully investigate and prosecute more cases of tax fraud. More funding means more investigators, more cases opened, more interviews, more evidence-gathering and, ultimately, more prosecutions. HMRC isn’t just looking for people who commit tax fraud themselves. It’s also now interested in investigating and prosecuting individuals who continue to promote tax avoidance schemes if they fail to stop doing so having received a Promotor of Tax Avoidance Scheme Stop Notice.”
The Autumn Budget revealed the government’s aim to tackle tax fraud including expanding HMRC’s criminal investigation work and legislating against non-compliant umbrella companies.
Additionally, the government plans to strengthen HMRC’s informant reward scheme to encourage reporting of high-value tax fraud and avoidance.
A consultation on measures to tackle promoters of marketed tax avoidance will be published in early 2025.
In August, HMRC’s tax crackdown on football led to an additional £67.5m in tax recovery from investigations into clubs, players, and agents over the past year.
