WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service is expanding cooperation with British tax authorities to identify cross-border tax evasion, using whistleblower programs to uncover offshore assets, concealed financial transactions and tax avoidance schemes involving wealthy individuals and multinational businesses.
The IRS said it provided expertise to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in developing the United Kingdom’s Strengthened Reward Scheme, which launched in November 2025 to encourage reporting of serious tax avoidance and evasion.
The partnership links two major financial jurisdictions through programs that offer monetary incentives for information leading to tax enforcement and recovery of unpaid liabilities.
“The collaboration between the U.S. and the UK’s whistleblower program will help deter large-scale, cross-border tax evasion,” said IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano.
The cooperation is intended to address financial arrangements that span multiple jurisdictions, including offshore accounts, shell companies and transfers structured to conceal assets or taxable income.
Such arrangements can complicate investigations when financial records, ownership structures and transactions are distributed across countries.
The agencies are seeking information from individuals with direct knowledge of potentially unlawful financial activity, including accountants, bankers and corporate executives.
Reportable conduct includes undisclosed foreign bank accounts, failures to file required Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, and assets concealed through foreign trusts, foundations or anonymous holding companies.
The programs also cover suspected money laundering, manipulation of transfer prices and improper shifting of profits across national borders.
Transfer pricing arrangements involving related companies operating in different countries can attract scrutiny when authorities suspect that transactions have been structured to improperly reduce tax obligations.
HMRC Chief Executive JP Marks credited the IRS with helping establish the British program and said the agencies intend to strengthen enforcement through continued cooperation.
“The IRS has played an important role in supporting the development of HMRC’s Strengthened Reward Scheme, and I am grateful for the close collaboration between our organizations,” Marks said.
Whistleblowers may qualify for financial awards when information they provide results in the collection of taxes or other proceeds.
Eligibility is not limited to citizens or residents of either country, allowing individuals outside the United States and United Kingdom to submit qualifying information.
The arrangement extends the use of financial incentives as an enforcement tool against tax evasion involving international transactions and ownership structures.
The IRS and HMRC said their cooperation is intended to strengthen tax compliance across both jurisdictions by encouraging individuals with credible information to report suspected violations.
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