David Hannah, the founder of advice firm Cornerstone, has been fined for avoiding stamp duty and faces further disciplinary action after losing an appeal.

Connect, HMRC’s sophisticated information system is being used more and more to identify income and gains that have not been declared.

HMRC has won a £40m legal case against tax avoidance scheme promoter Hyrax Resourcing Ltd.

Last year HMRC accrued £5.2bn of taxpayer’s money from Inheritance Tax alone - £400m more than the year before – and this figure is expected to rise to £6.5bn this year.