Tax Evasion

Treasury written question – answered at on 31 March 2014.

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Photo of John Martin McDonnell John Martin McDonnell Labour, Hayes and Harlington

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many evasion referrals were made by the taskforces established by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to crack down on tax evasion and tax avoidance to the HMRC Evasion Referral Team in each tax year from 2011-12; and how many of those referrals were adopted as working cases by the HMRC's (i) Criminal Investigation, (ii) Specialist Investigation and (iii) Local Compliance Fraud business units.

Photo of David Gauke David Gauke The Exchequer Secretary

The figures requested are in the following table:

Number
  Taskforce Evasion Referrals received Adopted by Criminal Investigations or the Criminal Taxes Unit Adopted by Specialist Investigations Adopted by Local Compliance Fraud
2011-12 128 14 0 1
2012-13 336 38 6 24
2013-14 557 68 9 52

The figures only cover the period up to 28 February 2014. As at that date there were still 118 referrals being reviewed some of which may subsequently be adopted.

The referrals are made by HMRC officers when they suspect or discover evasion. The process is designed to escalate this type of case to a specialist team—Criminal Investigation, Specialist Investigation or Local Compliance Fraud—for review. If the case is not adopted by one of these teams it is returned to the referring officer to deal with.

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