Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the official statistics entitled 2025 HMRC statistics announcements, published on 8 October 2025, what assessment he has made of the reasons for HMRC’s error in recording VAT cash receipts outturn.

HMRC corrected the error in their VAT cash receipts which impacted provisional figures from April 2025 to August 2025. The impact of the correction was an upward revision of VAT cash receipts by £2.4 billion (approximately 3% of year-to-date VAT receipts). There was no impact on earlier years. The revision was published in an exceptional release on 8 October 2025. This revision also means the ONS published revised borrowing figures, which for 2025/26 reduced by £2.0 billion.

I have been given assurance from HMRC that the revision does not affect any interactions with taxpayers and that HMRC will be conducting a robust review to prevent it happening again.