In a move that signalled a warning shot to rogue high street stores across the UK, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced it will make more than 30,000 interventions on the high street in 2026 to 2027, in a bid 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,” it said today (12 June).
“Owners of dodgy shops that are evading tax: we are coming for you.”
Dan Tomlinson, 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 High Street Organised Crime Unit backed by £30m 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.
The latest announcement’s finer details include the news more staff will visit high street premises, targeting the full spectrum of tax risks and illegal activity associated with cash-intensive businesses.
The newly promised activity will also clamp down on rogue directors who repeatedly shut businesses and reopen elsewhere, and also tackle till fraud by targeting the providers and end-users of electronic tools to manipulate sales records to launder money or suppress sales.
The department also 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,” it said.
Officers were joined by colleagues from Home Office Immigration Enforcement, Westminster Council Trading Standards and the Metropolitan Police, as teams checked shops selling royal family, London and other UK-themed gifts and more.
The visits resulted in full till data downloads at all locations by HMRC, with tax compliance enquiries to follow. There were also three arrests made by the Home Office for immigration-related offences and a £40,000 civil penalty issued to a business for employing an illegal worker.
Trading Standards also seized goods by worth £5,433, including 289 disposable vapes, 173 squishy toys, counterfeit accessories and unsafe travel adapters. HMRC said it will use the intelligence gathered in its investigations to “inform future action to tackle illegal activity on the high street.”
No comments yet