Taxman spends £1m on rewards for tax informants
Rewards for people informing the taxman of irregular tax activities have risen since the start of the recession
PEOPLE WHO INFORMED HMRC of the activities of tax cheats received rewards totalling £1m since the recession started.
HM Revenue & Customs spent about £400,000 last year alone in what are known as ‘bounty payments’ for anyone reporting tax evasion, according to figures obtained by the investigative website Exaro.
Rewards are said to have risen by more than a fifth in comparison to the last financial year, with recipients taking between £50 and tens of thousands, based on the amount of tax recouped.
The Independent reports some £100,000 was paid to a Liechtenstein banker for handing HMRC a list of secret offshore accounts held by Britons in 2008.