HMRC and HM Treasury do not publish sufficient information on the value for money of tax reliefs to enable Parliament to hold government to account. In response to examinations by this Committee, HMRC now publishes a list of all tax reliefs which support government objectives, and now reports costs for 158 of these reliefs, up from 46 in 2014. However, since our last major report in 2015, HMRC has published evaluations of the impact of just 13 tax reliefs. Although it claims to undertake internal assessments of reliefs, HMRC cannot show which reliefs it has evaluated internally. In 2017, HM Treasury began to make assessments of the value for money of tax reliefs. When assessing value for money, HM Treasury considers factors such as how the cost of the tax relief compares to forecast, the extent of behaviour change and deadweight loss, and consideration of spending alternatives. HM Treasury does not publish its value for money assessments as it asserts they Management of tax reliefs 7 are policy advice to ministers and do not represent the formal position of the department. Published information on factors covered by the assessments would help Parliament to hold government to account for their use of tax reliefs. Recommendation: • HMRC should ensure that the results of internal, as well as external, evaluations are published, and are easily accessible to Parliament and the public • HM Treasury should in 2021, prepare its first annual report setting out the results of its value for money assessments of tax reliefs.