Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 9
9
HMRC completed significantly fewer tax-related prosecutions during the pandemic years.
Conclusion
Over the two pandemic years, HMRC completed around 1,000 fewer prosecutions for tax-related offences than before the pandemic. In 2020–21 and 2021–22, it concluded just 163 and 236 prosecutions respectively, compared with around 700 a year in the two years before the pandemic.14 HMRC told us that court closures and reduced court capacity during the pandemic affected the extent to which it could progress prosecutions through the courts, which therefore constrained the numbers it could complete.15
Government Response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 21 July 2023. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document ↗