But the good news is that only around 2% of self-assessment returns come under his scrutiny every year - and most of those investigations are easily resolved with a few letters.

And one thing you can do to stop the taxman noticing you in the first place is to avoid having an offshore bank account, according to the British Taxpayers Federation.

Spokeswoman Angela Brooks-Wong told Contractor UK that having an offshore account either now or at some point in the past "will flag an investigation from now on".