-
HMRC will carry out
more than 30,000 interventions this year to tackle tax fraud
and illegal activity on the high street.
- Action targets organised crime groups and others exploiting
vape shops, barbers and convenience stores in hotspot areas.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) made unannounced visits to
six souvenir shops across central London this week, as it
significantly scales up its work to tackle illegal activity on
the high street.
Officers from HMRC
were joined by colleagues from Home Office Immigration
Enforcement, Westminster Council Trading Standards and the
Metropolitan Police.
The teams checked shops selling royal family, London and
UK-themed gifts, along with magic and wizarding products. The
visits resulted in:
- full till data downloadscompleted at all locations by
HMRC, with tax
compliance enquiries to follow
- three arrestsby Home Office for immigration-related offences
and a£40,000 civil penaltyissued to a business for employing an
illegal worker
- seizure of goods by Trading Standards worth £5,433 including
289 disposable vapes, 173 squishy toys, counterfeit bags, hats,
scarves and unsafe travel adapters.
HMRC will use the
intelligence gathered in its investigations to inform future
action to tackle illegal activity on the high street.
The department announces it will make more than 30,000
interventions on the high street in 2026 to 2027, aiming to
dismantle criminal networks involved in tax fraud, labour
exploitation, and the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes.
The interventions will include unannounced visits, tax and
organised crime investigations, seizures and warning letters.
HMRC and its partners
will carry out UK-wide investigations targeting the controlling
minds and enablers behind high street harm, including those using
vape shops, barbers, souvenir shops, candy stores and convenience
stores as fronts for money laundering and tax crime.
At last year's Budget, the Chancellor announced a new team of 350
criminal investigators to tackle evasion by small businesses.
These investigators have now been recruited and around half of
their work is focused specifically on disrupting harmful high
street businesses and the people behind them.
, Exchequer Secretary to the
Treasury, said:
HMRC is stepping up
its action to go after illegal activity on our high streets.
Owners of dodgy shops that are evading tax: we are coming for
you.
Too many high streets have been blighted by illegal activity that
harms local communities and undercut honest businesses, and we're
determined to fix this.
We're increasing our action across the UK to target the criminals
using shops as a front for tax evasion, money laundering and
fraud.
This is a sustained, nationwide effort and HMRC and its partners will use
every power available to dismantle these criminal networks.
HMRC will also tackle
till fraud by targeting the providers and end-users of electronic
tools which are used to manipulate sales records to launder
money, conceal sales and evade tax.
Last month, the Home Office launched a
new High Street Organised Crime Unit with £30 million of
funding, bringing HMRC together with other
government departments, Trading Standards, policing partners and
the National Crime Agency (NCA); to dismantle criminal
networks who undercut the honest businesses and communities
around them.
This builds on existing work, including November's Operation
Machinize 2: this cross-agency initiative led by the National
Crime Agency saw HMRCdeploy more than 160 officers
across the UK. The NCA
operations led to 924 arrests and the seizure of £13 million in
suspected criminal proceeds.
Further information
HMRC has announced it
will make more than 30,000 interventions in 2026 to 2027 to
tackle organised criminals and tax fraud on the UK's high
streets. This will include:
- deploying more staff to visit high street premises, targeting
the full spectrum of tax risks and illegal activity associated
with cash-intensive businesses
- interventions against businesses involved in money
laundering, and National Minimum Wage breaches
- interventions targeting the sale of illicit goods such as
vapes and tobacco
- clamping down on rogue directors who repeatedly shut
businesses and reopen elsewhere
- tackling till fraud by targeting the providers and end-users
of electronic tools to manipulate sales records to launder money
or suppress sales
Last month the Home Office launched a
new High Street Organised Crime Unit with £30 million of
funding, bringing HMRC together with other
government departments, Trading Standards, policing partners and
the NCA.
Operation Machinize is an operational intensification period
targeting criminal exploitation of high street businesses. It is
led by the NCA and
conducted in co-operation with the National Police Chiefs'
Council (NPCC), police force,
Regional Organised Crime Units, Immigration Enforcement, Trading
Standards, HM Revenue and Customs and Companies House.
