Recommendations & Conclusions
16 items
3
Conclusion
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
HMRC cannot identify how much tax is paid by UK billionaires, despite the relatively small number of individuals and significant sums of money involved. HMRC can and must do more to understand and explain the contribution that the very wealthiest in society make to tax revenue. It has access to …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, with the First Permanent Secretary of HMRC having written to the Committee detailing steps to improve understanding of personal wealth and connected entities. HMRC also announced plans to enhance its approach to offshore …
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
There is much more that HMRC can do to improve its work to risk assess and target wealthy people, in particular through the use of data and technology and recruiting wealth management experts. HMRC says targeting its resources on more complex, higher-risk, higher yield cases, has resulted in higher average …
Government response. The government states the First Permanent Secretary of HMRC has written to the Committee outlining how investment plans aim to improve compliance outcomes. HMRC is currently designing how investment will be deployed and will provide more detailed plans to the …
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
Too many compliance investigations last too long, with too few leading to penalties and prosecutions. HMRC has different actions it can take against taxpayers who it identifies are at risk of not paying the right tax, including penalties, civil investigations into taxpayers suspected of fraud, and criminal investigations. The average …
Government response. The government has announced an ambition to increase positive charging decisions for harmful fraud by 20% to 600 per year by 2029-30, expecting a corresponding increase in criminal investigations of wealthy individuals. HMRC has already significantly increased investigations of wealthy …
HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
It is not sufficiently clear how much tax is paid, and how much tax is avoided by the very wealthy, which restricts HMRC’s ability to reassure the public that it administers the system fairly. Fairness is at the heart of HMRC’s charter. It is important for confidence and trust in …
Government response. The government agrees and states HMRC is scoping work to better understand and more accurately capture the contribution of wealthy individuals and their controlled entities to the overall tax gap. HMRC will write to the Committee in Autumn 2026 with …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on collecting the right tax from wealthy individuals.1
Government response. The government committed to HMRC publishing its plan in spring 2026, detailing how it will improve compliance among wealthy individuals and setting out specific timelines and outcomes for each objective.
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
We asked HMRC about its ambitions and priorities for ensuring that wealthy individuals pay all the taxes that they should. HMRC told us that it has significant opportunity to do more and that is working with Ministers to secure the funding and ensure that the wealthy team has the capacity …
Government response. HMRC will set out what investments will help improve a range of compliance outcomes for the wealthy customer population by Autumn 2026, after further design work on how the investment it has received through the Spending Review will be deployed. …
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
HMRC told us that it wants to ensure that its wealthy team has the enablers and capabilities it needs to be more effective and productive in its work. It said that it is a constant endeavour for it to collect more tax from wealthy individuals because those who deliberately try …
Government response. HMRC will set out what investments will help improve a range of compliance outcomes for the wealthy customer population by Autumn 2026, after further design work on how the investment it has received through the Spending Review will be deployed. …
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
HMRC told us that its ultimate objective is to reduce the overall tax gap, and it hopes the increase in its compliance activity will reduce the tax gap over the next few years.13 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast a reduction in the tax gap from 4.8%, at …
Government response. HMRC will publish its plan in Spring 2026 on how it will improve compliance by the wealthy population and set out timelines and outcomes for each objective, as part of its Transformation Roadmap published in July 2025.
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
Around 29,000 wealthy individuals had incomes of at least £1 million in 2023–24 and were liable for around £34 billion of Income Tax in total. Within this population are taxpayers with very high incomes and wealth: around 10,000 taxpayers have annual incomes of at least £2 million, and 5,000 have …
Government response. HMRC will undertake further analysis to enhance its understanding of how different levels of wealth and complexity impact risk in the wealthy population, to improve its identification and targeting of risk. Target implementation date: Autumn 2026.
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
We asked HMRC whether it would be useful if it segmented the population of wealthy individuals to focus on the very wealthiest taxpayers, and whether it saw different risks from these wealthiest individuals.16 HMRC observed that people’s propensity for risk will vary and that it sees a lot of risk …
Government response. HMRC will undertake further analysis to enhance its understanding of how different levels of wealth and complexity impact risk in the wealthy population, to improve its identification and targeting of risk. Target implementation date: Autumn 2026.
HM Treasury
14
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
HMRC has an ambition to collect more information from wealthy individuals with more complex affairs, in line with international best practice. However, HMRC has set no firm plans or timescales.25 We asked HMRC about its progress in collecting more information from wealthy individuals. HMRC told us that it is for …
Government response. HMRC will request more data on assets and wealth from those taxpayers it suspects have high or very high levels of wealth and provide a further update in Autumn 2026 on any progress made on acquiring additional data sets. HMRC …
HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
HMRC could not tell us how many billionaires pay tax in the United Kingdom and explained that income and chargeable gains determine whether someone pays tax, not whether they are a billionaire. UK tax legislation does not require taxpayers to report data on their wealth, only on income and taxable …
Government response. HMRC will continue to enhance its understanding of billionaires with a UK tax footprint and provide assurance that all billionaires with a UK tax footprint in the wealthy population have an allocated Customer Compliance Manager (CCM). CCMs are senior tax …
HM Treasury
16
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
The Sunday Times Rich List 2025 listed 156 billionaires, compared with 165 last year. We asked HMRC if it has ever tried to link the Sunday Times Rich List with its own records to estimate how many billionaires on the list are tax resident in the UK. HMRC told us …
Government response. HMRC will continue to enhance its understanding of billionaires with a UK tax footprint and provide assurance that all billionaires with a UK tax footprint in the wealthy population have an allocated Customer Compliance Manager (CCM). CCMs are senior tax …
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
The NAO’s report illustrates the vast difference in levels of wealth in HMRC’s wealthy customer group. For example, a billionaire could have 100 times more wealth than someone who fits the descriptor of a “high net worth individual”, and 500 times more wealth than someone who just meets HMRC’s definition …
Government response. HMRC will undertake further analysis to enhance its understanding of how different levels of wealth and complexity impact risk in the wealthy population, with target implementation in Autumn 2026.
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
HMRC told us that the investment it secured as part of its recent funding settlement will help improve its data and understanding of the risks and better target its compliance activity so that, when it opens a case, it has 34 Q 87 35 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.10, 3.15-3.16 36 …
Government response. HMRC will set out what investments will help improve a range of compliance outcomes for the wealthy customer population by Autumn 2026, after further design work on how the investment it has received through the Spending Review will be deployed. …
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
40th Report - Collecting the right tax …
Accepted
HMRC has issued fewer penalties to wealthy taxpayers in recent years, and criminal prosecutions of wealthy individuals have also declined. In 2023–24, HMRC issued 456 penalties to wealthy individuals, totalling 37 Qq 20, 87-88, 90 38 Q 105 39 C&AG’s Report, para 3.18 40 C&AG’s Report, paras 17, 3.20 41 …
Government response. HMRC will assess its use of powers to tackle non-compliance by the wealthy, in particular whether it makes sufficient use of available sanctions, and report back once the assessment has been completed. Target implementation date is Autumn 2026.
HM Treasury