Recommendation 15

We asked about taxpayers’ declining trust in HMRC. HMRC said there had been a decline in trust globally with governments and with public bodies, and it was also subject to that decline. It told us that it had not been providing services up to the standards it wanted to, and this had affected taxpayers’ trust. HMRC reinforced the importance of trust saying that “it has to be at the centre of everything that we do, because the UK’s tax system depends on people voluntarily complying and having confidence in HMRC.” It said trust depends on “both the quality of the processes and communications that we give people, as well as the quality of the service when they have to deal with us.” 26