HMRC property raids reduce by 30% through use of AI and big data - Accountancy Age

HMRC's use of AI and big data to gather evidence in tax investigations has led to a 30% drop in property raids, according to law firm Pinsent Masons. The firm explained that HMRC has leveraged sophisticated algorithms and big data sources to gather evidence with greater ease and efficiency than costly and time-consuming property raids. Steven Porter, Partner at Pinsent Masons, said: "HMRC's big brother-style data collection on taxpayers is giving it the material it needs to ramp up its tax investigations and at the same time, is reducing the need for it to actually raid properties." The figure has dropped from 669 property raids in 2016/17 to 471 last year. In particular, tax inspectors have been using the state-of-the-art Connect database, an analytical system worth £80m and designed by BAE Systems, to carry out preliminary investigative work within seconds.