New HMRC Reward Scheme For Whistleblowers Introduced

The Government has introduced a new 'strengthened reward scheme' to incentivise informants to report serious tax avoidance or evasion to HMRC. The scheme was launched in the Autumn Budget alongside other reforms aimed at closing the tax gap, and it builds on HMRC's existing reporting processes.

The strengthened reward scheme

As outlined in our previous article, HMRC already had the power to pay rewards to informants of tax non-compliance. However, the amounts paid out were modest and the payment scheme was not particularly publicised by HMRC.

Under the new scheme, HMRC have the ability to pay informants an award of 15-30% of the additional tax collected. There is a minimum threshold of £1.5m of additional tax that needs to be collected before the reward scheme will apply. The scheme looks to target serious tax avoidance or evasion, and the guidance states that this will typically involve large companies, wealthy individuals, offshore avoidance or tax avoidance