Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people are employed to investigate tax evasion in the HMRC's Customs Wealthy Team Unit; and if he will make a statement.

HMRC does not have a team called the “Customs Wealthy Team Unit”. HMRC’s Wealthy team (merging the previous High Net Worth Unit and Affluent teams) as of 31^st March 2018 had approximately 1046 full time equivalent staff engaged in customer compliance activity. Their roles focus on promoting tax compliance and tackling non-compliance amongst the wealthy population, including, where evidence is found, investigating potential tax evasion. The team works closely with Counter Avoidance and Fraud Investigation Service to ensure HMRC effectively tackle avoidance and evasion within this customer segment.