More than 45,000 tax evaders have come clean about undisclosed offshore accounts, after a surge in take-up of the unprecedented partial “amnesty” being offered by Revenue & Customs.

The partial amnesty, which caps penalties at 10 per cent of their maximum, is on track to raise between £750m and £1bn. The numbers coming forward have risen 10-fold over the past two weeks and are expected to reach 60,000 by the time the initiative expires at midnight on Thursday.