Thirty-Third Report - HMRC performance in 2021–22
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 686
11 January 2023
Recommendations
1 results
7
Not Addressed
Research and development tax reliefs are costly, prone to abuse and provide questionable benefit to...
Recommendation
Research and development tax reliefs are costly, prone to abuse and provide questionable benefit to the UK economy. The government has a target of 2.4% of GDP to be invested in research and development. In 2021–22, HMRC spent £9.5 billion …
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Government Response Summary
The response addresses different recommendations (1 and 2 related to the UK Infrastructure Bank) and not the recommendation related to research and development tax reliefs.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (4) Observations and findings — click to expand
1
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on its performance in 2021–22.1 HMRC published its annual report and accounts for 2021–22 on 18 July 2022, shortly before Parliament’s summer recess. It had published its annual report …
10
Conclusion
HMRC estimates that total fraud and error across the lifetime of the COVID-support schemes was £4.5 billion, representing 4.6% of the total support provided. This is lower than the estimate HMRC included in its 2020–21 accounts. HMRC has drawn on new data to improve its estimate, from a random enquiry …
16
Conclusion
HMRC said that it limits the number of callers that can join the call queue, which can have an impact on its call waiting time measure. Anyone not able to join the call queue is played a “busy message” and is forced to end the call. HMRC told us that …
18
Conclusion
The total tax debt owed to HMRC in August 2022 was £46 billion. This is less than at the height of the pandemic in March 2021 but significantly higher than before the pandemic. HMRC told us that while the size of the debt fluctuates throughout the year, the trend continues …