Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs; HM Treasury · Source location: Page 14, 23a
HM Treasury and HMRC identify which non-structural reliefs have economic objectives and how these could be grouped together to provide oversight on how reliefs with similar objectives are working together to deliver government objectives, for example those aimed at business investment. This should include assessing the extent to which reliefs are achieving their objectives and whether the economic gains justify the scale of relief.
Response position:
Rejected
Delivery:
No implementation status recorded
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Treasury · Source location: Page 14, 23b
HM Treasury should support ministers by ensuring that objectives for reliefs are expressed in as specific and measurable a way as possible. For example, including an expectation of acceptable costs and timescales, and a measurable definition of what success looks like in the advice provided.
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q2 2024-25
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs · Source location: Page 14, 23c
HM Treasury and HMRC should make a clear articulation of resources required to effectively administer and evaluate tax reliefs in tax information and impact notes. HMRC needs to ensure that teams can access the subject matter expertise needed for complex or technical tax reliefs
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q1 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs; HM Treasury · Source location: Page 14, 23d
HM Treasury and HMRC should ensure the annual budget for evaluating tax reliefs is commensurate with the number and complexity of reliefs that need evaluating each year. The departments should ensure evaluations are completed in a timely way and commit to publishing evaluations within three months of completion, subject to ministerial approval.
Response position:
Partially accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q2 2025-26
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs · Source location: Page 14, 23e
HMRC should design proportionate controls and plan interventions at the beginning of a relief?s lifecycle based on risk assessment and learnings from other reliefs to:
? establish appropriate up-front checks on generous reliefs;
? set out plans for evaluations to be carried out as soon as practicable and publish the timetable;
? plan for timely review of monitoring information to get interim evidence; and
? ensure speed of response where reliefs are identified as not meeting desired objectives or do not function as planned.
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q1 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs · Source location: Page 15, 23f
HMRC should improve the transparency of relief costs by committing to provide comparisons of forecast and outturn costs compiled on the same basis. This should also inform internal reporting and analysis:
? HMRC should report where tax reliefs greatly exceed the initial expected costs; and
? HMRC should investigate differences, using robust evidence to form conclusions
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q3 2024-25
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs · Source location: Page 15, 23g
HMRC should demonstrate that it has applied lessons learned from the problems with the R&D SME relief to other reliefs that could be vulnerable to similar control failures
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q1 2027-28
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs · Source location: Page 15, 23h
Where the costs of tax reliefs rise rapidly, and beyond an economically credible scenario, HMRC should, where proportionate, investigate a sample of claims to check whether there is widespread non-compliance. It should put in place a rapid response capability where widespread non-compliance occurs
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q4 2024-25
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs · Source location: Page 15, 23i
HMRC should monitor agent activity to assess the risks for tax reliefs and intervene early where it sees that expected standards of behaviour are not being met
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q3 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: HM Revenue and Customs · Source location: Page 15, 23j
HMRC should publicise the areas where it would welcome academic research on tax reliefs.
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q3 2024-25
· Confirmed by NAO