Contentious tax: quarterly review

Production orders

It is well known that HMRC is under pressure from the government to increase the number of criminal prosecutions for tax evasion. In 2010 the government provided HMRC with £900m to tackle non-compliance in the tax system. The number of convictions from HMRC prosecutions subsequently increased by 93% growing from 336 in 2010/11 to 648 in 2018/19. This increase in HMRC criminal prosecutions has led to a significant increase in the number of production orders (POs) sought by HMRC which issued 1 414 POs in the year ending 31 March 2018.