Report Tax Avoidance or Evasion to Welsh Revenue Authority Online

Reporting suspected Land Transaction Tax or Landfill Disposal Tax avoidance or evasion in Wales

You can report suspected Land Transaction Tax (LTT) or Landfill Disposal Tax (LDT) avoidance or evasion to the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA), and you can do so anonymously. The WRA wants factual information you already have about the person, business or arrangement, but it does not act for you personally, will not usually give feedback, and says you should not investigate the matter yourself or alert anyone involved.

• The reporting process is for suspected non-compliance with Welsh taxes, specifically LTT and LDT, whether it appears to be avoidance or evasion.
• Useful details include the name and address of the person or business involved and a clear description of the behaviour or arrangement that concerns you.
• You do not need to prove the case or gather extra evidence; the WRA says you should only report what you already know.
• You can report online, by post or by phone, and you may choose not to give your own name or contact details.
• The WRA may share information with other law enforcement bodies, cannot provide case updates, and is not resolving a private dispute on your behalf.
• If the issue is your own incorrect tax return because of an avoidance scheme, the WRA says you should contact it directly as a voluntary disclosure instead of using the reporting route for someone else.

Scroll down for the full analysis.

How to report suspected Land Transaction Tax or Landfill Disposal Tax avoidance or evasion in Wales

This page explains the Welsh Revenue Authority’s process for reporting suspected tax avoidance or evasion relating to Land Transaction Tax (LTT) or Landfill Disposal Tax (LDT). The official guidance is short, but the practical point is important: if you think a person or business is not paying the right Welsh tax, you can send information to the WRA, including anonymously. The WRA makes clear that it cannot act for you personally or give you feedback on what happens next.

What this rule is about

The source material is not about how LTT or LDT is calculated. It is about how suspected non-compliance can be reported to the Welsh tax authority.

It covers two types of behaviour:

• tax evasion, which generally means deliberately breaking the law to avoid tax that is due
• tax avoidance, which generally means using arrangements intended to reduce tax, where the legal effect may be disputed or challenged

The page is aimed at people who want to tell the WRA about suspected wrongdoing or suspicious arrangements involving LTT or LDT.

What the official source says

The WRA says you can report suspected avoidance or evasion behaviour in LTT or LDT.

It asks for information about the person or business being reported. This could include:

• their name
• their address
• the type of avoidance or evasion you think they are committing

You do not have to give your own name or contact details unless you want to.

The WRA also gives several important warnings:

• do not try to find out more about the suspected behaviour
• do not tell anyone that you are making a report
• if you think your personal safety is at risk, call the police
• the WRA cannot provide feedback
• the WRA is not acting on your behalf
• the information may be passed to other law enforcement agencies

The official page provides an online reporting route and postal and telephone contact details.

It also draws a clear distinction for voluntary disclosure. If the issue is your own tax return and you got something wrong because of an avoidance scheme, the WRA says you should call it instead.

What this means in practice

If you have information about suspected LTT or LDT non-compliance, the WRA wants factual details that may help it identify the person, business, transaction, or arrangement.

You do not need to prove the case yourself. The guidance specifically tells you not to investigate further. That matters because people sometimes think they need to gather more evidence before reporting something. The WRA’s position is the opposite: provide what you already know, and do not put yourself at risk.

The option to report anonymously means a report can still be made even if the person reporting does not want further contact. But anonymity has a practical consequence. If the WRA cannot contact you, it may not be able to clarify unclear points.

The statement that the WRA is not acting on your behalf is also important. A report is not the same as making a personal complaint, pursuing compensation, or asking the WRA to resolve a private dispute. The WRA is deciding whether the information is relevant to tax administration or enforcement.

The fact that the WRA may share the information with other law enforcement bodies means the report may have wider consequences if the facts suggest criminality or other regulatory issues.

How to analyse it

If you are deciding whether and how to report something, the source material suggests a simple framework.

• First, ask whether the issue relates to Welsh taxes within scope here, namely LTT or LDT.
• Second, identify the person or business involved as clearly as you can.
• Third, describe what you think is happening. Focus on the behaviour or arrangement, not conclusions you cannot support.
• Fourth, include any basic identifying details you already have, such as name and address.
• Fifth, do not carry out your own enquiries or alert the person concerned.
• Sixth, decide whether you want to remain anonymous.
• Seventh, if the issue is actually about your own incorrect tax return because of an avoidance scheme, use the voluntary disclosure route by calling the WRA instead of simply reporting it as someone else’s behaviour.

A useful practical question is whether you are reporting suspected non-compliance by someone else, or correcting your own position. The page treats those as different situations.

Example

Illustration: a person involved in a property transaction believes that false information may have been given to reduce LTT on a Welsh land purchase. They know the buyer’s name, the property address, and why the tax treatment appears suspicious. Under the WRA guidance, they can report those details online or by post or phone. They do not need to gather more evidence themselves, and they should not tell the buyer that a report is being made.

Why this can be difficult in practice

The page groups together “avoidance” and “evasion”, but in practice those are not always easy to distinguish.

Some arrangements may be plainly dishonest. Others may involve technical tax planning that is later challenged by the WRA. A person making a report may not know which it is. The guidance does not require you to classify it perfectly. What matters is giving the WRA enough information to understand the concern.

Another difficulty is that people sometimes report matters that are really private disagreements about a transaction rather than tax non-compliance. The WRA’s statement that it is not acting on your behalf is a reminder that the reporting process is for tax enforcement, not for resolving personal disputes.

There can also be uncertainty where a person has been involved in an avoidance scheme themselves. The source material specifically directs that person to call the WRA if their own return is wrong. That suggests the WRA sees self-correction as a separate process from reporting suspected behaviour by others.

Key takeaways

• You can report suspected LTT or LDT avoidance or evasion to the Welsh Revenue Authority, including anonymously.
• Give factual details you already know, but do not investigate further or tell anyone you are making a report.
• If the problem is your own incorrect return because of an avoidance scheme, the WRA says you should contact it directly as a voluntary disclosure.

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Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Report Tax Avoidance or Evasion to Welsh Revenue Authority Online

View all WRA LTT Guidance Pages Here