HMRC reported the highest tax revenues on record in 2023-24, reflecting the freezing of income tax bands and thresholds, and an increase in the rate of Corporation Tax from 19% to 25%. Tax debt has now fallen marginally, but remains significantly higher than before the pandemic - £43bn in March 2024, down 1.9% since 2023, but up from around £15bn between 2015-16 and 2019-20. In 2023-24, the estimate of the amount of tax HMRC may not ultimately be able to collect from taxpayers continued to rise, from 32% of the amount owed but not paid in 2022-23 to 45.4% in 2023-24.
The National Audit Office (NAO) found in 2024 that delivering responsive customer service continued to be one of HMRC’s biggest challenges. Its telephone answering performance continued to decline in 2023-24. The report also highlighted levels of error and fraud in tax credits, Corporation Tax R&D reliefs and Child Benefit expenditure. A separate NAO report on HMRC’s customer service found that its telephone lines were not delivering, with customers cumulatively spending 798 years on hold waiting to speak with the tax authority in 2022-23 – more than double the time spent waiting in 2019-20.
The Committee’s report on HMRC’s performance in 2022-23 warned that customer service levels at HMRC were at an all-time low, as service levels at the tax authority continued a five-year decline. Written evidence published by the Committee demonstrated the resulting exasperation caused to the taxpayer.
Based on the two NAO reports, the Committee will hear from senior HMRC officials on subjects including:
- HMRC’s performance in collecting revenue and managing compliance;
- Customer service and debt management performance; and
- Error and fraud.
Please note that the Committee cannot help with individual cases.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.
If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Monday 18 November 2024.