Cash rewards for tax informants

New Home Office proposals may mean cash rewards for informing on VAT and custom cheats according to The Times (25 May 2007).

Whistleblowers should get a commission or "informant's fee" payment based on the assets confiscated under controversial new plans published by the Home Office.

In the US a similar scheme has raised £5.5 billion where informants receive 15-30% commission of seized assets of a successful case.

It is hoped that criminal assets seized could top £1 billion and would help the Government to improve on its current performance which runs at a meagre 5% of the annual profits of the criminal fraternity.Presently in the UK "crime pays"-very well-with an estimated £2 billion in the UK being available for seizure(and £3.3 billion sent overseas). Only £125 million in fact was seized last year.

The £11bn per annum figure from criminality is broken down as:

• drugs £5.3bn;
• excise fraud £2.9bn;
• IP theft £0.85bn and
• general fraud £1.9bn broadly.

The Asset Recovery Agency has said many Mr Bigs are prudent investors in pensions,property and shareholdings in the UK or overseas and as banks,accountants,financial advisers and solicitors know money laundering regulations place stringent requirments on such advisers and intermediaries to ensure the finances are "clean".

 

The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.