Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
40th Report - Collecting the right tax from wealthy individuals
Published 16 Jul 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Collecting the right tax from wealthy individuals All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
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 at lower wealth bands, not just from billionaires. HMRC stressed the importance 11 Q 11 12 Q 13 13 Q 77 14 Q 77 15 C&AG’s Report, paras 1, 10, 1.17 16 Qq 26, 50 10 of having a risk model that considers other factors besides pure wealth, such as complexity and opportunity for non-compliance. It said it otherwise might miss those people who are causing more harm to the tax system than just the very wealthy. It compared a very wealthy individual, earning a lot of income through Pay As You Earn and therefore highly visible to HMRC, to another individual with much lower wealth who places properties in very complex offshore trusts and structures which may be indicative of non-compliant behaviour.17 Nevertheless, HMRC acknowledged that it needs to keep its definition of the wealthy population under review and accepted that the case for better segmentation was well made.18
From: Public Accounts Committee, 40th Report - Collecting the right tax from wealthy individuals (HC 827), 16 July 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fortieth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 16 September 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fourtieth report from Session 2024-26
Published 15 October 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendations, setting mostly Autumn 2026 target dates, while declining one specific proposal on penalty targets.
- On the plan to increase yield from wealthy taxpayers, the government agrees and HMRC "will publish its plan in spring 2026" with timelines and outcomes for each objective.
- On data about billionaires and wealth, the government agrees. HMRC will provide the Committee with assurance by autumn 2026 that identified billionaires with a UK tax footprint have an allocated Customer Compliance Manager.
- On penalties for enablers of tax evasion, the government agrees to the recommendation but HMRC "is not minded to set an annual target", because issuing penalties "is dependent on the behaviours shown by taxpayers and enablers in each specific case".
- On the wealthy tax gap, the government agrees, and HMRC "will write to the Committee in Autumn 2026" updating on progress in improving the estimate.