Criminal investigations’ yield doubles in five years

HMRC made £2.5m on average from each criminal investigation it conducted last year up 31% on the £1.9m it earned in 2016-17. The figure has more than doubled in the past five years from £1.1m in 2013-14.

HMRC investigated 140 individuals for offences associated with offshore evasion last year including four arrests and six interviews under caution relating solely to the 2016 Panama Papers leak.

UHY Hacker Young says criminal investigations allow HMRC to levy higher penalties and impose tougher sanctions which it uses to send a strong deterrent message.

Sean Glancy partner at UHY Hacker Young said: ‘HMRC is seeing better returns from its criminal investigations as it hones its techniques. It has vast swathes of data at its disposal as well as increasingly sophisticated tools to analyse this material and track people down. We can expect the amount of money made in each investigation...