Landlords are set to receive a letter from HMRC if they are suspected of not having paid enough tax this year, writes Charlotte Lloyd.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the taxman will send 40,000 letters over the next four months asking the recipient to arrange their affairs or risk receiving a large fine or criminal investigation.

Approximately 5,000 landlords have been sent the letters and a 30-day window to respond has been given.

Accountants have said that in the past year HMRC’s approach has toughened. It is understood that more people have been deployed to hunt down £500m underpaid each year.

Last October, a campaign to encourage landlords to come clean was launched by the taxman and accountants said that ten months on from the launch the Revenue has begun gathering information from a wider range of sources.

Mark Giddens, a partner at UHY Hacker Young, told The Sunday Telegraph: “It was not until April this year that the taxman sent out notices to letting agents in which they asked for details to be provided of everyone on their books.