Harry is an Associate in JHA’s tax disputes team. He represents both businesses and private clients on a range of direct and indirect tax disputes, often with an international focus.
Harry's work encompasses all forms of contentious tax work, including litigation in the Tax Tribunals and Civil Courts; and advising on settlement strategy, ADR and HMRC investigations. He also advises businesses on risks under the Criminal Finances Act and represents clients in complex group litigation actions involving multiple test claimants.
Harry has particular experience acting for clients in the staffing and labour-supply sectors, including in relation to the application of the Managed Service Company anti-avoidance legislation.
Harry also regularly advises clients in the technology sector on tax risk and compliance issues, including transport applications and online platforms.
Admitted as a Solicitor in England and Wales, 2021.
University of Northumbria – Mlaw (First Class Honours)
In his speech delivered on 11 March 2025 at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, James Murray, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, announced plans for HMRC to introduce a new whistleblowing scheme. The new scheme will take inspiration from the US and Canadian whistleblowing schemes which substantially reward informants for providing information to tax authorities on tax non-compliance.
The new scheme follows the measures outlined in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget to “close the tax gap,” and is aimed at tackling “serious non-compliance in large corporates, wealthy individuals, offshore and avoidance schemes.” The scope of the scheme has not been confirmed but given the reference to “avoidance schemes” it is not expected to be limited to reports of tax evasion but also “serious” tax avoidance.
How does HMRC’s current rewards scheme work?
The new scheme is intended to complement HMRC’s current rewards scheme (contained in section 26 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005) which rewards informants on a “discretionary” basis rather than as a percentage of the tax recovered (and so currently in the UK there is actually no guarantee that an informant would receive any reward for providing information to HMRC).
Rewards under HMRC’s current scheme are relatively modest and not linked to the amounts recovered. Therefore, it is unlikely that money is currently the main incentive for informants to approach HMRC (and the scheme is not widely publicised in any case). In 2023 – 24 HMRC reportedly paid out nearly £1m in awards (the highest payout in recent years). However, in comparison, in the same year the Inland Revenue Service (“IRS”) paid out a total of $88.8m across 121 awards in respect of recoveries totalling $338m.
How might the new scheme work?
Details of the new scheme have not been confirmed but, if the UK followed the US model, then rewards for whistleblowers could be between 15 – 30% of the sums collected (which includes tax, interest, penalties and fines). Whistleblowers in Canada receive less (5 – 15%). The payments are potentially very large sums, and it marks a significant change in practice for HMRC in tackling tax non-compliance.
In the US, the IRS has a dedicated Whistleblower Office which processes information relating to whistleblowing claims. Whistleblowers in the US will qualify for awards for providing “specific” and “credible” information to the IRS regarding tax underpayments or violations that lead to proceeds being collected.
Informants making claims are required to provide the following information to the IRS to support their claim:
• A description of the alleged tax non-compliance and supporting evidence (and a description of documents or evidence not in the whistleblower’s possession or control);
• An explanation of how and when the whistleblower became aware of the information;
• A description of the whistleblower's relationship to the relevant party (for example, family member, client, employee etc); and
• A signed declaration under penalty of perjury if false information is provided.
There are certain “ineligible” whistleblowers who cannot make claims, mainly individuals reporting on non-compliance linked to their roles in the federal government.
In order to qualify for a tax-geared award the information provided must relate to a claim exceeding $2,000,000 or, if the subject of the claim is an individual, the individual’s gross income for the relevant tax year must exceed $200,000 (the Canadian thresholds are less). If the claim does not meet the criteria for a tax-geared award, then the IRS can instead pay awards as part of discretionary programme. It might be anticipated that the UK government will include similar minimum thresholds in order to reduce time and cost spent pursuing smaller claims.
Notably awards can be decreased for claims based on information obtained from public sources or if the whistleblower “planned and initiated” actions which led to the non-compliance. Again, it is expected that a similar provision would be included in the UK rules to prevent, for example, individuals involved in planning and procuring tax avoidance schemes from receiving substantial awards.
Conclusion
It remains to be seen how the new UK whistleblowing scheme will work in practice, however, some early observations can be made at this stage:
1. Under the new UK scheme, whistleblowing will become a much more attractive option given the powerful financial incentives for informants. In essence, people are being encouraged to whistleblow. Even if the information supplied does not directly lead to a tax recovery, it (the information) will presumably potentially sit on HMRC’s Connect system. It is assumed that there will need to be systems in place to separate reports of genuine tax non-compliance from opportunistic informants providing misleading information to HMRC;
2. Dealing with more claims will require significant resource allocation from HMRC, but also from businesses and individuals who are the subject of allegations;
3. Due to the nature of the information provided, reports are more likely to be made by individuals close to the taxpayer or employed by them. Businesses should be aware of the protections afforded to whistleblowers by the law; and
4. Information obtained from whistleblowers by HMRC can be shared with different Government departments (subject to relevant information gateways), including, for example, the Serious Fraud Office, the Police (in some circumstances) and the Financial Conduct Authority.
The details of the new scheme are not yet available but there is clearly a potential for a significant change in tax compliance work. All of the information supplied to HMRC is likely to involve a breach of confidence of some nature. Some of the information supplied will be accurate, but it is likely that some of the information supplied will be inaccurate or incomplete. Both types of information may have consequences for the taxpayer.
A further note will be produced when details of the new scheme are published.
