The opening comments from the person sitting across the desk would go something like this: “so who has been spreading malicious rumours about me?” The wording had slight variation but the suspicion of the involvement of an anonymous informer at work was a constant feature in a great many opening enquiry interviews that I conducted – and I witnessed fair few remarks of this type in my time as an inspector of taxes.

Not all informants were so coy as to hide their identities especially where personal estrangement was concerned. Revenge is a very strong motivation and the closer a person is to another, the more information is shared. Without doubt, the content of pillow talk has come back to haunt and torment certain non-tax compliant individuals. “Hell hath no fury” applies across the board and is not gender specific I can assure you.

Contrary to popular myth, being denounced by a love rival, business competitor or someone who takes exception to unguarded bragging in the boozer will not always result in HMRC expressing a definite interest in the person or persons concerned. That said neither are such snippets of information ignored out of hand. It must always be recognised that anonymous informants are seldom motivated by a public spirited nature nor are they crusaders for the establishment of a “level playing field”. Most are disgruntled for one reason or another and outraged that someone is profiting by behaving in a manner that is deemed contrary to the informant’s best interests. So to weed out the malicious from the plausible, HMRC will make certain checks to confirm or rule out the substance or otherwise of the accusation(s) made.

One young, and let’s say confident, lad was the subject of an unsigned letter detailing fabulous wealth generation from a disco business that was not declared whilst running alongside his “legitimate” plastering business. When he was eventually called in for a meeting with his accountant he failed to make the connection between the grey suit before him (me) and the flairs and cheesecloth ensemble I had sported the week before when I went to watch him in action at the night club residency, which he held in addition to his mobile music road show. The informant’s information was by the evidence of my own eyes, correct.  When I questioned him, he initially claimed to provide discos for family and friends only on an ad hoc basis and couldn’t understand why I questioned the closeness of his relationship with them. The bundle of newspapers that I produced like a rabbit from the hat, going back over five years contained repeated music for hire advertisements. I suggested that his family and circle of friends may not have been as close as he had supposed if he had been obliged to go to those lengths to get their attention. The accountant had by now recognised the mild sarcasm that many Inspectors develop over time and he took the opportunity offered to have a quiet word with his client.

So if the information sent in by “a concerned taxpayer” or other champion of the public good who is too shy to be identified, finds its way to HMRC containing detailed information that is capable of being checked, it will be looked at.

As for M.C. Cocky, well he engaged someone like me to repair the damage of the past transgressions and to keep him on track going forward. That was a long time ago. He probably works for Saga or Warner Leisure now – who knows……