Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many criminal investigations HMRC opened into serious and complex tax crimes in each year since 2010.

The case categorisation ‘serious and complex’ was introduced in Summer Budget 2015. Therefore, comprehensive records for criminal investigations opened into serious and complex tax crime prior to the financial year 2016/17 are not available.

The number of criminal investigations into individuals in the ‘serious and complex’ category that commenced in the following years is:

• 2017/18 - 88

• 2016/17 - 83

  During a criminal investigation HMRC gathers evidence to ascertain whether the individual should be charged with an offence, or the individual charged with an offence is guilty of it. However, HMRC is not a prosecuting authority. If the evidence supports a criminal charge the case is presented to the relevant prosecuting authority, which for England and Wales would be the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS); for Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS); and for NI, the Public Prosecution Service for NI (PPSNI).