Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
9th Report - Tax evasion in the retail sector
Published 12 Feb 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Tax evasion in the retail sector All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
In January 2021 government introduced legislation making online marketplaces liable for VAT from overseas sellers, resulting in £1.5 billion of additional tax a year. This is five times greater than HMRC estimated at the time.15 We asked HMRC why this was, and it explained that the volume of online sales had increased but also that it had imperfect information at the time.16 However, HMRC conceded that it had not sought to break down which of these factors contributed most to the difference.17 HMRC also told us it thinks it has a good idea of how much non–compliance there is in the online retail sector.18
From: Public Accounts Committee, 9th Report - Tax evasion in the retail sector (HC 355), 12 February 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Ninth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Ninth report from Session 2024-25
Published 6 May 2025.