Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 37
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We were also concerned that HMRC has not been making good use of other technologies. In particular, it appears that the UK’s tax system is not as efficient for customers as the systems in some other countries such as Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Canada and Australia.75 In 2023, the NAO reported that many tax authorities in other countries with large economies were providing digital services to VAT traders, personal taxpayers and corporate taxpayers that were not widely available in the UK, such as pre–population of tax returns with income and expenses, and enabling taxpayers to file objections to HMRC’s decisions digitally. The NAO also reported that 15 G20 countries had responded to a 2017 OECD survey, with nine reporting they provided a “whole of taxpayer” view across multiple taxes.76 HMRC is still working to provide UK taxpayers with this view through its single customer account programme.77
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.