Prime minister David Cameron has committed up to £10m ($14.1m, €12.4m) in funding and promised to provide additional resources to ensure that the leaked files are fully investigated.
HMRC is already investigating 700 leads linked to Panama.
Pay their fair share
Cameron said: “The UK has been at the forefront of international action to tackle the global scourge of aggressive tax avoidance and evasion, and international corruption more broadly.
“There is clearly further to go and this taskforce will bring together the best of British expertise to deal with any wrongdoing relating to the Panama Papers.”
David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “Everyone should pay their fair share of tax, just as the honest majority already does. But as the Panama papers show, tax evasion is part of a wider set of international [criminal] activity together with money laundering, illicit finance, and evading sanctions.
“The new taskforce announced [Sunday] will further tighten the screw on those who think they can get away with dodging tax that’s due in this country. It will also further enhance our ability to tackle financial crimes across the board, leaving no stone unturned.
“Our message is clear: there are no safe havens,” Gauke said.
Political fallout
Cameron has himself been caught up in the fallout from the leak of 11.5 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
His late father, Ian Cameron, was a client of Mossack Fonseca and used the law firm to shield his investment firm, Blairmore Holdings, from the UK tax office.
The fund was registered in Panama, despite most of its investors being British, and Ian Cameron controlled the fund from its inception in 1982 until he passed away in 2010.
David Cameron was a shareholder of Blairmore, selling his stake for £31,500 just before becoming prime minister in 2010.
