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HMRC property raids up 12%

11.07.14

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) increased the amount of property searches that they conducted by 12% last year, according to law firm Pinsent Masons.

The taxman raided 500 addresses during the 2013/14 tax year, compared with 445 in 2012/13.

"HMRC is making a huge effort to up the ante against tax evasion, raiding more properties and arresting more suspects to keep up with its criminal prosecutions target," said Jason Collins, Head of Tax at the law firm Jason Collins.

"HMRC are also casting their net wider, not only going after the very biggest suspected tax evaders but also increasingly targeting middle class professionals, like bankers and lawyers. Even though the value of the tax evaded in those cases is relatively low, HMRC is keen to pursue those cases to the bitter end as a deterrent to other tax evaders.

"These raids and arrests are designed to give all tax evaders sleepless nights."

The increase in property searches is part of HMRC's plan to claw back the billions of pounds lost every year to tax evasion. The 500 addresses searched in the past year is triple the amount that we searched in the years between 2008 and 2011.

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