Over the course of the 2024-25 tax year HMRC received almost 165,000 tips from the public about potential tax avoiders.

Despite the record number of reports being sent into HMRC the number of payouts to whistleblowers decreased. In total HMRC received 164,670 anonymous tips through each of the available channels, 9% higher than 2023-24 when there were 151,763.

But the average payout would be only £5 based on the £852,438 paid out in 2024-25, down by 13% from £978,256 in 2023-24.

The drop in value of whistleblower payouts shows HMRC is being ‘inundated with more low-value or unverifiable tip-offs’, warned Andrew Park, a tax investigations partner at Price Bailey, who said the tax authority was receiving ‘a lot more exaggerated and malicious tip offs because it has become so easy to complete the process’.

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