HMRC is not using all relevant data sources to understand how the pandemic is affecting taxpayer’s ability to repay. The pandemic has had a varied economic impact, with some groups improving their financial position during the pandemic while others have been negatively affected. HMRC used data it already held, on business customers’ revenue, staffing and use of employment support schemes, to identify how severely they were affected by the pandemic. However, HMRC has not used business sector data – and does not plan to. We believe that sectoral data is likely to become more important over time as the pandemic continues to affect business sectors differently and, as government support schemes close, data about which customers accessed these schemes will be less informative about their current situation. HMRC told us that it does not wish to drive any viable business to the wall by pushing them to repay debt too quickly, but we cannot see how HMRC will be able to make informed judgements about how hard it chases customers without understanding the context in which they operate. Recommendation: HMRC should identify and obtain the data sources which are most relevant to understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on businesses. As a minimum we would expect HMRC to make use of sectoral data.