Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many convictions there have been as a result of prosecutions brought by HM Revenue and Customs for tax evasion in each of the last five years.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is not a prosecuting authority. Where cases handled by HMRC do proceed to the criminal courts the prosecution is carried out by the relevant independent prosecuting authority. This is the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in Scotland, and the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI).

Individuals convicted as a result of prosecutions arising from HMRC investigations for tax evasion offences since April 2010 were as follows:

2010-11: 280

2011-12: 401

2012-13: 522

2013-14: 682

HMRC is not able to supply a time series of full year convictions resulting from their criminal investigations for years up to 2009–10. Complete, comparable data is only available from 2010–11 onwards.