Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the announcement that HMRC will become a preferred creditor in UK insolvencies, what (1) calculations were used, and (2) issues were considered when they concluded that the policy would create an additional £605 million in tax revenue between 2019–20 and 2023–24.

The tax base for this measure consists of company insolvencies with gains resulting from tax avoidance, evasion and phoenixism, in addition to the amount HMRC currently writes off every year due to insolvencies.

This is estimated from HMRC operational and administrative data and is grown in line with the Budget 2018 OBR determinant for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices deflator.

The costing is the tax recovered from insolvencies that HMRC would not otherwise have collected before the policy was implemented. Adjustments are made for tax and payment timing.

The costing accounts for a behavioural response whereby the measure has a deterrent effect on future insolvency as some taxpayers become compliant.

At Budget 2018, the Government published a full assessment of the exchequer impacts which is attached.