I've received the following today, maybe old news to some but it appears the
noose is being tightened:

"Five plumbers have been arrested and around 600 are under civil
investigation by HM Revenue & Customs.

Earlier this year HMRC offered an amnesty to tax-evading plumbers and
members of related trades. The Plumbers Tax Safe Plan offered them immunity
from prosecution penalties limited to 20 per cent if they revealed their
previously undeclared income.

But there was a poor response from the self-employed plumbing fraternity,
many of whom do not regard HMRC's mailshots as essential reading, and do not
employ tax advisers. By the time it closed at the end of May, the amnesty
had produced only 600 voluntary disclosures and yielded a paltry GBP330,000
in extra tax receipts.

HM then announced it intended to follow up its offer by prosecuting some of
those who had failed to take advantage of it. These arrests, which took
place in London, Hampshire, Surrey, Middlesex and West Bromwich, are the
first results of this action. More raids will take place soon across the UK,
including Yorkshire, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Tyne & Wear, Midlands and South
Wales.

HMRC says it is considering hundreds of further cases for criminal
investigation. Some of those involved are said to owe as much as GBP150,000
in back tax and penalties.

"People should not underestimate the amount of data that HMRC is holding",
commented Gary Ashford of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. He noted that
HMRC has already announced plans to increase the number of evasion
prosecutions by a factor of five.

As well as plumbers, HMRC's targets include medical professionals who
refused to disclose their income under a previous profession-specific
amnesty, the Tax Health Plan. A similar amnesty aimed at private tutors and
Internet traders will begin soon"