Companies and individuals that are careless or even illegal in their tax affairs need to watch out. New figures show that HMRC has paid out £1.4 million in rewards to whistleblowers of tax illegality.
A record number of reports were made to HMRC in the 2025-26 tax year, hitting 170,992.
The last Budget saw the government strengthen a reward scheme for tip-offs. Payouts only go to tips that lead HMRC to recover more than £1.5 million in tax. Informants now receive between 15% and 30% of the value of the extra tax collected.
Recent HMRC figures on the tax gap – the difference between the tax owed and the amount actually collected – showed that small businesses made up the largest share of uncollected tax, two-thirds of the £59.2 billion shortfall.
HMRC have also just released a two-minute YouTube video as a ‘general explainer’ on the scheme. It is aimed at employees, family members, friends or acquaintances of high-net-worth individuals or businesses engaged in suspected serious tax evasion or avoidance. It sets out what the scheme is, what rewards eligible informants could receive and how any information provided may help HMRC to tackle the tax gap and fund vital public services.
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