IRS officials said last week that a collaboration between the U.S. tax agency and the HMRC, the United Kingdom’s tax authority, enhances efforts to identify global tax evasion and strengthens cross-border compliance.
According to the IRS, the HMRC’s whistleblower program, known as the Strengthened Reward Scheme, which launched in November 2025, drew upon the IRS Whistleblower Office’s expertise before it was established.
Much like the IRS’s whistleblower program, the HMRC’s version encourages the reporting of serious tax avoidance and evasion involving the wealthiest individuals and largest businesses.
“The collaboration between the U.S. and the U.K.’s whistleblower program will help deter large-scale, cross-border tax evasion,” IRS CEO Frank Bisignano said in a statement on Oct. 7. “By working together, the two tax authorities encourage robust tax enforcement on both sides of the Atlantic and will have a far-reaching global impact in the fight against international financial fraud.”
IRS and HMRC officials say the tax agencies are committed to working with and rewarding whistleblowers who help root out threats to global financial security and tax compliance.
The IRS and HMRC encourage individuals with specific, timely, significant, and credible information about suspected violations of tax laws to submit a report. In the U.S., visit IRS Whistleblower Office or IRS.gov/SubmitATip, and in the U.K., visit Reporting Serious Tax Avoidance or Evasion on Gov.UK.
Examples of what whistleblowers in either country can report include:
- Undeclared foreign bank accounts and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR);
- Hidden assets routed through foreign trusts, foundation structures, financial instruments, or anonymous holding entities in tax havens;
- Money laundering; and
- Transfer pricing manipulation and illicit cross-border profit shifting by high-net-worth individuals and multinational entities.
Whistleblowers can qualify for a monetary award if their information leads to the collection of taxes or other proceeds. Whistleblowers don’t need to be citizens or residents of the U.S. or U.K. to receive an award.
“I’m pleased to join the IRS in recognizing the important role that informants play in helping protect the integrity of our tax systems,” HMRC Chief Executive JP Marks said in a statement. “The IRS has played an important role in supporting the development of HMRC’s Strengthened Reward Scheme, and I am grateful for the close collaboration between our organizations. By working together, we can strengthen our efforts to tackle tax avoidance and evasion.”
Photo credit: katemangostar/Freepik
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Tags: HMRC, IRS, IRS Whistleblower Office, Taxes, United Kingdom, whistleblower
