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By Lauren Davidson personal finance editor

In our freshly-redesigned Money section, included in last Saturday's Daily Telegraph, we revealed the extent of HMRC's crackdown on landlords.

The value of fines slapped by the tax office on buy-to-let investors more than doubled last year to 5.6m, as the number of landlords found to have underpaid or underdeclared tax on letting income rose by 51pc to 8,704.

Lobby groups have said HMRC's ruthless attempts to clamp down on misreported earnings – along with the recent changes to how property income must be declared – could inadvertently penalise landlords who have made an honest mistake.

Is the taxman going too far? In a separate case, a judge told HMRC its behaviour was "ridiculous" and "a scandal" after the tax office attempted to fine a homeless man 1,600 for filing his return late. As Telegraph Money's Sam Meadows writes, this embarrassing affair belies HMRC's claims to be a kind, caring office.

It could get worse from here. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think tank, has said the Government will need to find an extra 5bn a year by 2023 to maintain its current level of spending, which could lead to another 20 years of tax rises. Worry not: here are five ways to beat them with our best tax-saving tricks.

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You have the last word...

Deryk King said about NS&I's offer to 65,000 savers ahead of cut in May : "If a private bank behaved in this underhand way, the regulator would crack down on them like a ton of bricks."

UK Scientist said about the closure of 500 ATMs a month: "Insufficient attention is being paid not only to the fallibility of electronic payment systems but also to the egregious power cashless payment gives banks, law enforcement, tax authorities and politicians. It is crazy to give this tool to organisations which are corruptible. All that has to be done is the equivalent of pressing a switch to deprive people of their ability to live."

Simon Castleman said about energy suppliers running out of non-smart meters: "When smart meters automatically swap me into the cheapest tariff and provider I’ll have one – until then not a chance."

Contact us: to pose a question to our team of expert reporters, email moneyexpert@telegraph.co.uk. If you'd like a free financial plan, email money@telegraph.co.uk with the subject 'Give me a Money Makeover'.

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