Anyone can report suspected tax evasion or avoidance to HMRC using its online form or the fraud hotline, and can do so anonymously. HMRC treats the report as confidential, will not tell you what it did with it, and only gets back in touch if it needs more information. Since November 2025 the Strengthened Reward Scheme can pay an informant between 15% and 30% of the tax collected where the information leads to at least £1.5 million being recovered, but only if the informant gives contact details and meets the eligibility rules.

What can you report to HMRC?

HMRC’s reporting service covers any person or business you think is not paying enough tax or is committing another fraud against HMRC. Its list includes tax avoidance or evasion, Child Benefit or tax credit fraud, hiding or moving assets, cash or crypto, tax fraud by businesses on UK high streets, illicit alcohol, tobacco and road fuel, smuggling of precious metals, and importing or exporting goods without a licence or in breach of sanctions.

Some things go elsewhere. Other benefit fraud, general crime, identity theft and suspicious HMRC emails or calls each have their own reporting routes, and anyone in danger should call 999. If you are unsure whether what you have seen is evasion or legal planning, our page on tax avoidance versus tax evasion explains the difference. HMRC accepts reports of both.

How do you make a report?

The main route is HMRC’s online form. If you cannot use it, the fraud hotline is 0800 788 887 (or +44 203 080 0871 from outside the UK), Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. HMRC asks people not to send reports any other way, such as by post or webchat.

For serious cases, HMRC’s guidance says the form will ask for:

  • what type of activity you are reporting, in up to 1,200 characters;
  • how you know about it and your relationship to the person or business;
  • how long it has been going on;
  • the total value, or your estimate of it; and
  • a description of any supporting information you have or know of, in up to 500 characters.

You cannot attach documents. Instead you tell HMRC what exists, and it will ask for it if needed. The detail and clarity of the report is what makes it usable, so specific facts (names, trading addresses, how cash is handled, which records are kept off the books) are worth far more than general suspicion.

Can you stay anonymous?

Yes. You do not have to give your name, and HMRC says any details you do give are kept private and confidential. That promise sits on a legal footing: section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 prohibits HMRC officials from disclosing information held in connection with HMRC’s functions, subject to listed exceptions such as criminal proceedings or a court order.

Giving contact details does help, because HMRC can then come back with questions. It is also a condition of any reward: anonymous reports are accepted but no payment will be made.

What should you avoid doing?

HMRC is clear that, for your own safety and to protect any investigation, you must not:

  • try to find out more about the activity;
  • let anyone know you are making a report; or
  • encourage anyone to commit a crime to get more information.

It also asks people not to send repeated reports on the same activity or contact HMRC to discuss a report.

What does HMRC do with a report?

You will be told the report has been received. After that, HMRC says it cannot give feedback. It will only contact you if it needs more information or if you are eligible for a reward. HMRC does not publish how it uses individual reports, and because it gives no feedback an informant will not learn whether a compliance check, a criminal investigation or an investigation under Code of Practice 9 follows. HMRC warns that tax investigations can take a long time, and there could be years between a report and any reward payment.

How does the Strengthened Reward Scheme work?

HMRC has a general power to pay rewards for services relating to its functions under section 26 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005. The Strengthened Reward Scheme, launched at Budget 2025 with guidance published on 26 November 2025, is aimed at serious avoidance or evasion, typically involving large companies, wealthy individuals, or offshore and avoidance schemes.

  • Threshold: the information must lead to the collection of at least £1.5 million in tax.
  • Amount: between 15% and 30% of the tax collected, excluding penalties and interest.
  • Discretion: rewards are at HMRC’s discretion and are not guaranteed.

You cannot receive a reward if any of these apply:

  • you are or were a civil servant, or contracted to government, and got the information through that work;
  • you are the taxpayer involved, or you planned and started the actions behind the evasion or avoidance;
  • HMRC may already know the information or could have found it through routine processes;
  • the reward might directly or indirectly fund illegal activity;
  • you are legally required to disclose, or not to disclose, the information;
  • you are acting for someone else, or got the information from someone who would not have been eligible; or
  • you report anonymously.

HMRC says people who are not eligible should still report.

Is a reward taxable?

Yes. HMRC’s July 2026 policy paper explains that informant rewards are already taxable: as a trading receipt if received in the course of a trade, and otherwise as miscellaneous income under section 687 of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005. At present they are paid gross and the informant declares them through Self Assessment. The paper publishes draft legislation for a new section 974A of the Income Tax Act 2007, which would make HMRC deduct Income Tax at the additional rate of 45% before paying a scheme reward. It is due to have effect from Royal Assent to Finance Bill 2026 to 2027, so it is not yet law.

Illustration only. An informant’s report leads HMRC to collect £4 million of tax, plus £1 million of penalties and interest. Any reward is based on the £4 million only. At 20%, the reward would be £800,000. If the proposed withholding is in force when it is paid, HMRC would deduct £360,000 at 45% and pay £440,000, with any balance settled through the informant’s tax return.

What about employees and professional advisers?

HMRC is listed as a prescribed body for whistleblowing about the administration of UK taxes, National Insurance and tax credits, and criminal investigations. An employee reporting their own employer to HMRC may therefore be within the whistleblowing protections, covered in our page on whistleblowing for accountants.

Accountants should also remember that an HMRC tip off is not the same as their own legal reporting duties. Their money laundering obligations, explained in tax evasion as money laundering, run separately, and a firm whose staff help a client evade tax faces the corporate offence in failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. The scheme also excludes people who are legally required to disclose, or not to disclose, the information, so a professional reporting under a legal duty should not expect a reward.

Common mistakes

  • Playing detective. Gathering evidence or confronting the person can put you at risk and damage any investigation.
  • Expecting updates. HMRC will not report back, even if it acts on the information.
  • Reporting anonymously and then expecting a reward. Contact details are a condition of payment.
  • Overstating the case. Give facts and say how you know them; a vague accusation is hard to use.
  • Sending attachments by other routes. Describe what you hold and wait for HMRC to ask.

If HMRC opens a check into your return, tax investigation insurance pays your accountant’s fees. Solar Protect cover pays up to £100,000 with no excess; it never pays tax, interest or penalties. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

Related Accountapedia entries

Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.