HMRC sacks hundreds of officers for failing to protect taxpayer data Misconduct costs 770 tax authority staff their jobs FOI reveals scale of HMRC dismissals The tax authority formally disciplined more staff for failing to protect taxpayer data last year than at any point in the past five years. HM Revenue & Customs sacked 40 members of staff for breaches of data security and issued written warnings to 95 in 2020-21. More than 200 workers were fired for misconduct relating to data security since 2016, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by this newspaper showed. William Wilson of accountants Price Bailey said the news would be of concern to taxpayers who trust the tax authority to keep their sensitive information secure.