Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
23rd Report - The cost of the tax system
Published 30 Apr 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee The cost of the tax system All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
HMRC does not estimate the total costs incurred by individuals in administering tax.18 We therefore asked HMRC why it gave less attention to individuals’ costs than businesses. It said it focused on individuals’ wider customer experience, including the time they take to administer tax and the ease of dealing with tax issues, using metrics such as customer satisfaction.19 We also asked HMRC why the rate it uses to estimate the cost of customer time is three years out of date. HMRC said that following a recommendation in the C&AG’s report, it is “committed to looking at the feasibility of coming up with a measure” for the costs incurred by individuals in administering their tax.20
From: Public Accounts Committee, 23rd Report - The cost of the tax system (HC 645), 30 April 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 September 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 recommendation" on each of the report's recommendations, and reports that several are already implemented while others carry target dates.
- On simplification, the government will publish HMRC's Transformation Roadmap in summer 2025, which "will include the metrics HMRC will use to report progress".
- On trust, the government agrees with both recommendations and describes them as "Recommendation implemented", citing annual customer surveys, complaints data and focus groups.
- On compliance productivity, it says HMRC "will recruit an additional 5,500 compliance staff by March 2030", alongside other measures to close the tax gap.
- On legacy IT, HMRC "will write to the Committee" on its remediation plans, forecast cost and expected savings, with a target implementation date of September 2025.