Tax dodgers face sleepless nights as HMRC property raids jump 12%

The figure, which covers the year to 31 March 2014, marks an increase from 445 property raids in 2012/13. This is more than triple the number of property raids that HMRC undertook each year between 2008 and 2011. According to Pinsent Masons, the sharp jump in property raids since 2011 is a result of HMRC's sustained efforts to deliver its goal of increasing prosecutions for tax evasion. HMRC's target is to prosecute 1,165 people for tax evasion in 2014-15, five times more than its 2010 target of 250 prosecutions. HMRC raids are often carried out early in the morning to catch s...