Pictured above: Paul Malin

The taxman is set to get heavy with tax evaders, an expert has warned.

Paul Malin, director of tax investigations at the Birmingham office of BTG Tax, part of the Begbies Traynor Group, said that as a result of a combination of a number of factors, a new push on tax evasion was now on the cards.

"Clearly the coalition Government is looking to raise revenues in the current economic climate. A number of tax amnesties have been offered to taxpayers recently in order to come clean and get their tax affairs in order. One such amnesty is still available and taxpayers will do well to think about making a disclosure before they are investigated.

And he predicts further that if an investigation is handled incorrectly then under the new penalties regime, many errant taxpayers could find their ill-gotten gains have been wiped out.

This is the time, he suggests, for coming forward and making a clean breast of it.

"The result of HM Revenue & Customs' internal reorganisation and efficiency drive has been the perception of the archetypal taxpayer that they have got away with it. Not so."

HM Revenue & Customs launched its first tax amnesty, the Offshore Disclosure Facility, in 2007. At the time there was considerable media hype about how the authorities had forced the High Streets banks to reveal the details of their offshore accounts.

"HMRC then identified more than 380,000 account holders from the six high street banks who had something to declare. Only some 64,000 came forward and, of those, only 40,000 actually made a disclosure. What happened to the 320,000 account holders that just fell off the radar?

"But the net is now closing in again and it may be dangerous to think that all this original data has been lost," said Mr Malin.

"We now have a coalition government that is short of money. One obvious answer is to claw back any tax that has been lost to the Exchequer, with interest and a financial penalty on top."

But where they think they have enough evidence to "throw the book" at an individual, consider criminal proceedings may be considered, cautioned Mr Malin.

The better alternative, he suggests, is for anyone in this position to seek proper professional advice and to admit any such wrong-doing under the current tax amnesty known as the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF).

Under LDF, HMRC will only look at a 10 year period and not 20 years. The penalty is capped at 10 per cent as against anywhere between perhaps 50 and 100 per cent where serious fraud is suspected and HMRC investigates.

Mr Malin cautioned: "I don't want to scare people too much, but penalties at that level can deny any would-be tax evader of any financial benefit.

"There is a perception that there are a lot of people trying to keep one step ahead of the authorities. Following the G20 Summit, they are playing a dangerous game. It will be far better to come forward voluntarily and deal with the problem before HM Revenue & Customs come knocking on the door."

For more information about Begbies Traynor, please visit their website here: www.begbies-traynorgroup.com