Accountants and financial advisers who promote the most egregious schemes could be named and shamed as HMRC steps up its attempts to recover the £5bn lost each year to tax avoidance, according to the Times.

“The proposals in this consultation will allow HMRC to further close in on the cowboy advisers promoting these high-risk schemes,” David Gauke, the Treasury Secretary, said.

The new measures, to be unveiled in a consultation document to be published today, come in response to concerns the government is losing the fight against rich individuals and businesses who use clever accounting tricks and legal loopholes to reduce artificially their tax bills.

In a departure from the previous approach of targeting particular schemes, HMRC will be given new powers to pursue the financial advisers who market the arrangements. The tax department believes there is a core of about 20 tax specialists, mostly boutiques, that promote the most controversial schemes.

Under the new plans, HMRC will be allowed to identify publicly the accountants and advisers it believes are behind the worst schemes and will be entitled to demand information from them at an early stage about the products they are marketing. Those who resist will face penalties of up to £1m.

Individuals and businesses who purchase their schemes will also face penalties. Users of tax arrangements that HMRC successfully challenges in court will have to pay not only the disputed tax but additional fines.

The government will consult on the measures until October. It is the latest in a succession of attempts to clamp down on tax avoidance in recent years, most only partially successful.

HMRC succeeded in pressuring the big accountancy companies to stop selling off-the-shelf schemes aimed at wealthy bankers, celebrities and entrepreneurs, but a cluster of small boutique specialists emerged in their place, and the industry has continued to thrive.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in February that more than 10,000 taxpayers used such schemes over a two-year period. The government has tried to fight back by introducing rules requiring providers to disclose any schemes that could be construed as abusive. It has changed the law to shut loopholes and successfully challenged many schemes in court.

However, the litigation system is clogged with cases and will take years to clear at the current rate. Some providers have been flouting the disclosure rules, selling abusive schemes and pocketing commissions of up to 20% of the tax saved in the hope that HMRC could take years to catch up with them.

“[They] sign up as many clients as possible before HMRC changes the law and shuts the scheme,” the PAC said. “They then move on to a new scheme and repeat the process.”

A new General Anti-Abuse Rule, which came into force last month, will help HMRC to win legal challenges against the most abusive arrangements.