By Kirstin Ridley

LONDON (Reuters) -Informants who blow the whistle on serious tax avoidance or evasion in Britain could be awarded up to 30% of the tax collected under a novel, U.S.-style reward scheme outlined by the UK tax authority HMRC on Wednesday.

HMRC said such tax offences normally involved large companies, wealthy individuals or offshore avoidance schemes. But taxpayers involved in the schemes, anonymous tipsters and those acting on behalf of others would be among those excluded from the programme, it added.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves heralded the move in her second annual budget, in which she unveiled annual tax rises worth an annual 26.1 billion pounds ($34.5 billion) to meet her deficit-reduction targets.

Britain's tax gap is in sharp focus. The country lost an estimated 46.8 billion pounds in unpaid tax for the 2023-2024 tax year, HMRC data shows, with 5.5 billion lost to tax evasion in 2022-23 - a figure lawmakers have said is probably a vast understimate.

U.S. agencies have awarded whistleblowers billions of dollars collectively for tips resulting in enforcement action.

But in Britain, there have been only limited payouts for informants, although the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has called for whistleblowers to be financially rewarded for tipoffs that can risk their jobs, careers and sometimes their lives.

HMRC said under its strengthened reward scheme, informants could get between 15% and 30% of the tax collected, excluding penalties and interest, if...

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