Today’s post is concerned with the news that the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) are coming under increased pressure for their investigation, or lack thereof, of an aggressive tax avoidance scheme in the Recruitment sector which, according to The Guardian , is likely to cost the British taxpayer millions of pounds in lost tax revenues. The Guardian , which is leading the way in investigating this issue and reporting on it, suggest that the HMRC is underperforming in its role of investigating such tax-avoidance schemes and, as a result, it is likely that HMRC will not be able to get to the bottom of the scheme and its culprits, with the suggestion being that a criminal investigation could possibly ensue. In line with this passing suggestion, this post will first analyse the issue at hand, but will then build upon this to call for an agency which we have covered on a number of occasions here in Financial Regulation Matters – the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) – to take the le...