Committee publication · Correspondence · 11 February 2026
Correspondence from the Chief Executive of HMRC to the Chair, regarding follow ups to recent oral evidence, dated 9 February 2026
From: Treasury Committee
Inquiry: Work of HM Revenue and Customs
Summary
HMRC Chief Executive John-Paul Marks responds to Treasury Committee follow-up questions from oral evidence on 13 January 2026. The letter addresses six substantive areas: Child Benefit payment suspensions (1,109 confirmed ineligible cases as of December, with further assurance ongoing), compliance activity and fraud tackling (£39.2bn yield in 2024-25 from £1.7bn compliance spend), Corporation Tax relief evaluations, recruitment progress (1,500+ compliance staff recruited toward 5,500 target; 300 debt management staff recruited ahead of schedule), Class 2 National Insurance calculation errors (14,096 customers affected, fully corrected by December 2025), and Simple Assessment issues (20% of 1.3m assessments issued multiple times, with reforms planned for April 2028).
Key findings
- Child Benefit: 1,109 cases confirmed ineligible as of end December 2025; HMRC undertaking further assurance on total numbers affected and will provide full update after recess.
- Compliance yield: Customer Compliance Group returned £23 for every £1 spent on compliance workforce in 2024-25 (£39.2bn yield from £1.7bn costs); Fraud Investigation Service generated £3.9bn in 2024-25 and prevented £2bn in fraudulent claims.
- Tax gap: UK tax gap estimated at 5.3% of total theoretical tax liabilities in 2023-24.
- Recruitment: Over 1,500 additional compliance staff recruited by December 2025 (targeting 5,500 by 2029-30); 300 debt management staff recruited by December 2025 with further 370 due by end financial year (ahead of original 2026-27 plan for 730).
- Class 2 NI calculation error: 14,096 customers directly impacted when filing SA returns April–September 2025; all corrections completed by December 2025 with automatic refunds, payments, or account credits issued.
- Simple Assessments: ~1.3m issued in 2023-24 with 20% receiving multiple assessments; reforms requiring banks to provide earlier interest data planned for April 2028; pensioners with sole State Pension income to be exempted from April 2027-28.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
John-Paul Marks, Dame Meg Hillier, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Customer Compliance Group (CCG), Fraud Investigation Service (FIS), Treasury Committee, National Audit Office (NAO), Comptroller and Auditor General
Notable line
“… it returned, on average, £23 for every £1 spent on our compliance workforce in 2024-25.”
Key Quotes
“… we remain focused on strengthening our systems, learning from experience and improving our services to ensure customers receive a fair and efficient service in line with the principles of our Charter.”
“… at the end of December, 1,109 cases were confirmed as ineligible for Child Benefit, and we expect that number to continue to rise as we complete our work on open enquiries.”
“The overall value of CCG 's compliance work remains clear – it returned, on average, £23 for every £1 spent on our compliance workforce in 2024-25.”
“Detailed analysis confirmed that 14,096 customers (who filed their SA returns for 2024-25 before the fix was implemented) were directly impacted.”
“… outstanding liabilities; or • credited to their SA account.”
“We are giving customers at least one month to engage with us before any payments are suspended and then a further month to respond before a decision to terminate their award is considered.”
“The evaluation concludes that the Patent Box has had a positive impact on business investment. There has been around a 10% increase in assets held by companies that use the Patent Box compared to similar companies that do not since it was introduced.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗