Elite HMRC unit secures 67 years' prison time for tax evaders

HMRC’s offshore corporate and wealthy unit secured convictions totalling 67 years of prison time for tax evaders in 2020-21 nearly treble the total of 23 years a year earlier says Pinsent Masons.

The increase in prison sentences is a sign that HMRC’s strategy of using targeted criminal investigations rather than only civil penalties as a deterrent to address deliberate conduct including professional enabling and tax evasion by high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals is bearing fruit.

Andrew Sackey partner at Pinsent Masons said: ‘The perception that wealthy people who evade tax only get financial penalties is increasingly untrue. The unit is now regularly completing painstaking criminal investigations of the most complex and serious forms of tax evasion resulting in convictions and significant prison time.’

Pinsent Masons says the current threshold for wealthy individuals to be investigated by the specialist unit...