Money Matters Margaret Dibben

Whistleblower or snitch. Responsible citizen or nosy neighbour. Deciding to tell tales about someone you believe is breaking the law is difficult.

HMRC is just one organisation that relies on tip-offs to uncover wrongdoing. It wants to know about people who work for cash but do not put the money through their books, or do not give receipts. About anyone who hides money offshore, or does not charge VAT when they should – or perhaps charges VAT but does not pass it on to the Revenue.

Now it is investigating thousands of cases of furlough fraud, possibly up to £4 billion of stolen taxpayers’ money, involving fraudsters impersonating claimants, and bosses who took furlough money even though they made staff carry on working.

To recover such substantial sums, HMRC might well pay a financial reward for information. Even before the pandemic, it was encouraging whistleblowing both from its own employees and from members of the public.

The Revenue’s aim is to reduce the tax gap – the difference between the total tax due and the amount actually paid. The losses to fraud, evasion and error are