The initiative that’s earned HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) more than half a billion in five years
The taxman revealed today that its 140 targeted taskforces have helped it to track down more than £500m in five years.
Since 2011, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has used taskforces to carry out focused bursts of enforcement activity, including crackdowns on the retail sector, the tobacco industry and the adult entertainment industry.
The taskforces have gone from strength to strength for HMRC, with the amount they bring in increasing in every year.
In tax year 2015-16, when 50 new taskforces were launched, these targeted activities helped the taxman secure an additional £248m.
Read more: Millions of people could have paid the wrong amount of tax
"The message is clear: if you try to cheat on your tax, we are going to catch you," said Jennie Granger, director general for enforcement and compliance at HMRC. "A small number of people still think they can cheat the tax system; these figures prove we can track them down and take back what they owe.
"We have increasing levels of intelligence, and use state-of-the-art digital tools to help us to identify and target high-risk areas."
HMRC's compliance activities have been proving prosperous in general, with the taxman raising a total of £26.6bn that would have otherwise gone uncollected in tax year 2014-15.
However, back in April, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) slammed HMRC for failing to make progress on tackling tax fraud, which it is thought costs the agency £16bn a year in uncollected revenue.
Read more: HMRC seeks views on new tax evasion laws
A report released by the PAC in November also called the number of prosecutions HMRC had made for offshore tax evasion "woefully inadequate", pointing out that there had been just 11 since 2010.