"Friends" drop dime on tax cheats

"Taxpayers in other countries are offered incentives to report friends and family. In the US, a number of hotlines exist for both state and federal taxes and rewards are given. People who report tax cheats in Australia and Canada are entitled to cash benefits. Anyone calling the British hotline will not receive any money. According to the taxman, knowing that they are doing the right thing is reward enough.

Philip Hammond, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We support legitimate attempts to reduce tax evasion. But it would be helpful if we knew what percentage of these calls were genuinely helpful and what proportion were made maliciously.”