Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the extent of the use of Large Language Models in providing inaccurate advice to HMRC customers relating to (a) self-assessment and (b) corporation tax returns.

The Government is committed to helping taxpayers get their tax right. While the use of external Large Language Models can be helpful, they may not always provide accurate tax advice and HMRC has no control over the way these models are trained. HMRC therefore encourages customers and agents to use official guidance and services on GOV.UK when meeting their tax obligations.

This includes GOV.UK Chat an AI-powered chatbot which uses a Large Language Model within guardrails developed by HMRC and DSIT/GDS. There is evidence that the GOV.UK chatbot’s responses are robust, as evidenced by a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, which chronicled a journalist using an adversarial line of questioning, who still received accurate replies.

HMRC also works closely with software developers and industry partners to promote the responsible use of AI, helping reduce the risk of errors and supporting customers to meet their tax obligations with confidence.