Recommendation 17

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 of a wealthy individual. In 2023, HMRC secured £652 million in unpaid tax, interest and penalties from one case alone, involving a billionaire who failed to declare offshore trusts.32 HMRC told us that it wants to improve trust in the UK tax system and sees transparency about the amount of tax that wealthy taxpayers pay as one way for it to achieve this aim. It committed to look at opportunities to do more, including providing reassurance that it sufficiently understands the billionaires within its wealthy population.33 31 Q 34 32 C&AG’s Report, Figure 5, para 3.16 33 Q 38 13 2 Improving compliance and enforcement activity Targeting interventions