A freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed that since 2016, HMRC has paid out £1,925,660 to informants and in the last year alone has paid a total of £400,000 for the tip-offs.

HMRC’s fraud hotline, which enables people to report suspected tax abuse, has so far received more than 120,000 reports of alleged tax wrongdoing in the last year.  

The FOI obtained by law firm RPC showed that not all tip-offs made via the fraud hotline result in a payout.

In its reports, HMRC said a range of factors determine the exact amount whistleblowers are awarded, such as the tax recovered, how much estimated revenue loss was prevented and other benefits, such as time saved in working cases.