Investigations

AG Flutter (TC4443)

Almost 51,000 phishing emails were reported to HMRC around 2014’s tax credit season – April to July – marking a 100% rise in the number for the same period the year before, official figures show.

The scam messages frequently offered a refund from a “tax credit office agent”, or included a link to a fake version of the GOV.UK website.

Recipients were often asked to provide bank details or similarly sensitive information. Fraudsters then tried to take money from their victims’ account, or sell the people’s identities to fellow criminals.

E Dunne and V Gray v CRC, Queen’s Bench Division

Eight essential tax cases

HMRC powers lack efficacy, say advisers

HMRC casting net wider, warns legal expert

J Herbert (TC4395)

The impact of the Liechtenstein disclosure facility’s closure

The Revenue has suspended its notification list of qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (QROPS), after discovering the inclusion of schemes that do not meet the pension age test.

Payments made by HMRC to informants have hit a record high, according to legal experts.

Tax whistleblowers netted £605,000 in the year ended 31 March 2015, up from £402,000 over the previous 12 months.

The rise was driven in part by a surge in public awareness about the Revenue’s efforts to track down evaders, leading to more individuals alerting the department to possible fraud by former employers or ex-partners, said said City law firm RPC.

PN Jackson (TC4414)

Tax officials will cancel penalties for late self assessment returns that have since been submitted their return with a reasonable excuse, HMRC have confirmed.

The Revenue’s director-general of personal tax, Ruth Owen, told BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme that there had been a change in department policy, meaning most taxpayers’ excuses would be accepted at face value rather than be submitted to inquiry.