Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 12
9th Report - Large business tax compliance
Published 10 Jul 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Large business tax compliance All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Given that HMRC has never used the special measures regime, we asked HMRC how it can know that it is an effective deterrent. While HMRC recognised that it could not demonstrate that special measures has had a deterrent effect in any specific case, it argued that there is a broad body of contextual evidence supporting the claim that special measures deters egregious non-compliance. It credits a big drop in the proportion of the large business tax gap that stems from tax avoidance or evasion to the deterrent effect of special measures. It also noted that it carries out regular, thorough risk reviews of the large businesses it works with. HMRC said that it has assessed over half of businesses as low risk, with only 10 considered high risk.22
From: Public Accounts Committee, 9th Report - Large business tax compliance (HC 86), 10 July 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 October 2026 (deadline 10 September 2026).