Anonymous tax evasion reporting

thriftymanc

Does anybody know how effective the tax evasion reporting form on the HMRC website actually is? Do they always look into it and do something about it or is it likely to get ignored?

I know for a fact that a person I know does work under a business name cash in hand without paying tax (not registered as a business or self-employed or anything, a Facebook page is about as 'official' as they've bothered making it). I reported them twice. The first was a few months ago but I didn't know their exact address at the time so reported just giving name, age, town, description and the 'business' name/description. I happened to find out this person's address about a month ago so I reported them a second time with the full address.

Part of the problem is that they're the sort of delightful person where if they did get investigated and knew I was behind it I'd expect to get a lot of hassle for it so I do not want them to know it was me - hence reporting anonymously so there's no chance of it accidentally being revealed that I made the report - but also giving up my chance to hear back from HMRC in the process.

Seemingly nothing has happened so far. Obviously it's not like I can ask this person outright otherwise they'd know I'd reported them! However it's highly likely that if they were investigated I would be able to find out, either from mutual friends/acquaintances, or the fact that this person is incapable of keeping anything to themselves so if something doesn't go their way or they're in a bad mood everyone in a hundred mile radius knows about it. So I'm 99% sure it hasn't been looked into. Is it possible my first report was ignored because I couldn't provide the full address (I assumed they'd be able to get it from the electoral register)? If so, considering my second report was only a month ago, how long would it reasonably be before they did anything about it? Or do they not really care about stuff like this at all?

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

thriftymanc wrote: »

hence reporting anonymously so there's no chance of it accidentally being revealed that I made the report - but also giving up my chance to hear back from HMRC in the process.

Even if you gave all your details, you still wouldn't hear back from HMRC - they have a duty of confidentiality and cannot discuss someone else's tax affairs without their consent.

If you've reported it, then it will have been looked at, but you'll obviously never know the outcome.

zygurat789

thriftymanc wrote: »

Ok, that's fair enough. But like I said, how seriously do they take these things? This person has definitely not been investigated yet - they're still doing work cash in hand so if they'd been investigated they would have stopped. Does it just take a long time for HMRC to get round to it or do I need to report it again?

First of all HMRC will require a bit of evidence, it takes time to build a case.

There is nothing wrong with cash in hand. This person may well be accounting properley for all his transactions and merely putting it around that he's fiddling the taxman. And, thereagain you may be right but they do need at least one bit of cast iron evidence.
Unless there is a court case the results are not announced publically so the chances are you'll never know the outcome.

chrismac1

Well you are dealing with a business here which takes over 20 minutes just to answer the phone much of the time. And often 8 weeks or more to answer a letter.

If you can find a snail in your garden, get it on the case as it will most probably move faster than HMRC.