The chances of being investigated by an Inland Revenue authority are likely to increase year on year, as a result of growing pressure on government finances. Governments across the developed world are dealing with this pressure in different ways: most are expanding the resources devoted to combating perceived tax avoidance (and tax evasion); others are attempting to encourage compliance by an amnesty process.
Italy, South Africa, the US and Germany are some of the leading countries using amnesties to enable taxpayers to clear up historic irregularities (in the hope that they will then become fully compliant for the future).
