Select committee: Public Accounts Committee

Conclusion 13

9th Report - Large business tax compliance Published 10 Jul 2026 Addressed to HM Treasury
Conclusion (the committee's words)
While HMRC believes that the special measures regime has served as an effective deterrent, it is exploring how it might change it to make it more effective in future. HMRC said there is a very high legal threshold in terms of the avoidance behaviours needed to justify putting a large business into special measures, which provides the key barrier to using it.23 HMRC told us that it is considering lowering this threshold, but said that it will approach this very carefully. It said that it does not want to create uncertainty among the large business population and is aware that these kinds of policy changes can have unintended consequences. HMRC plans to consult fully on any changes and told us that any decisions will likely come next year.24 Case duration

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).

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