According to a recent report in the Telegraph, the HMRC are about to switch on a new 'super-computer' system that pulls together data from numerous sources, which goes way beyond just looking at income.

Just as the deadline for filing 2015-2016 tax returns looms they are set to switch on this new system.  It will provide a cross system view of individuals, and is designed to apply 'logical rules' to the data in order to automatically identify those who have paid too little tax.

According to the Telegraph report, it can apparently look at the following information about you:

• Visa and MasterCard - All anonymised on transactions
• Land Registry - Access to records to see properties purchased and stamp duty paid
• DVLA - It will have access to car purchased and owned by individuals
• UK and overseas banks - Data from UK banks, and they are now receiving information from overseas banks in more than 60 countries
• Internal tax document - All they have access to all internal documents so it will shoe council tax paid, relevant VAT registration, tax investigations, last years tax returns, etc.
• Earnings - From any employer, including all casual work or anything on an ad-hoc basis.  They have access to all company benefits received and can assess child benefit and maintenace payments too
• Online Marketplaced - It will also get data from websites such as eBay and Gumtree so that it can identify 'regular traders'
• Social media - And it will pull data from public social media site including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
• Web browsing and emails - And finally, under the 'Snoopers Charter', HMRC will also be able to access individuals digital information

So who said that big brother will never happen?