The number of arrests, dawn raids or interviews carried out by HMRC in respect of corporate and high net worth individuals jumped 40% last year. Criminal actions launched by HMRC’s Offshore Corporate and Wealth (OCW) unit increased to 70 in the 2019/20 tax year, up from 50 in 2018/19, according to a freedom of information request submitted by law firm Pinsent Masons. The role of the unit is to use criminal and civil powers to investigate suspicious or serious non-compliance by companies and the wealthiest taxpayers. The OCW unit was established at the time of the Panama Papers scandal in 2016, in which millions of documents were leaked that showed how the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. HMRC has dedicated more resources to the investigation of corporates and wealthy taxpayers since the Panama Papers scandal. HMRC investigations into the wealthiest and most sophisticated suspected offenders have increased eight-fold from about 50 in 2016/17 to over 400 in 2019/20. The Offshore, Corporate & Wealthy unit has a simple, highly-focused aim – to target deliberate non-compliance by corporates, the wealthy and ultra-high net worth individuals who seek to evade tax. Since it was established, OCW has collected or protected £1.8bn in extra tax through its investigations, with £414m collected in the 2019/20 tax year alone. OCW investigations resulted in 85 cases being charged last year, up from 34 cases in 2018/19, which Pinsent Masons said suggests the unit is getting better at successfully building cases against corporate and wealthy taxpayers.