Statistics show that the UK tax authority HMRC received more than 40,000 telephone tip-offs in 2017/18 from members of the public in relation to people who may not have paid the correct tax. This followed the merging of two hotlines in relation to tax evasion and customs fraud into one line whose number was widely advertised to the public. The majority of the telephone calls were reports of possible tax evasion. If reports made online and by post are also taken into account there were around 100,000 reports to HMRC from the public in relation to possible tax evasion.
In 2017/18 HMRC paid out GBP 343,500 as rewards for the tips, basing the rewards on tax recovery achieved as a result of the tips, the estimated loss of revenue prevented and other measurable benefits including the cost saved as a result of time savings in work on tax compliance.
HMRC claimed that its work on combating error, avoidance and evasion ensured that an additional GBP 30.3 billion in tax was collected in 2017/18 and that information received from the public made an important contribution to the work. HMRC stresses that people providing information on possible tax evaders are not given updates on how the enquiries are progressing.
