Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports of a 10 per cent increase in UK taxpayers missing the self-assessment filing deadline, what steps they are taking to identify the factors that may have contributed to this increase.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The number and proportion of people who haven’t filed on time this year is similar to last year. This year, 11.5m customers filed their returns by close on 31st January compared to 11.4 million last year.

1.1 million customers did not file their return by the filing date and we are currently evaluating why this might be the case, although the number is similar to last year. We will be working to improve our understanding of customers who did not file on time before considering if there are opportunities to influence that group in future campaigns.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 23 January (HL1648), whether they will provide forecasts of the number of people that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs expect to fill in tax returns in each of the next five years.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC does not hold an estimate for numbers of taxpayers likely to file a Self Assessment return for the next five years. This is because over time, the size of the Self Assessment population will vary due to changes in tax legislation, operational decisions and economic factors.

Each year, following the filing deadline for Self Assessment returns, HMRC conducts analysis to forecast the likely number of Self Assessment filers in the forthcoming year and the likely impact on demand for its services. HMRC has not yet made this forecast for next year.

For taxpayers who are employees, HMRC commonly adjusts their PAYE tax code to collect extra amounts of income tax due. HMRC may also be able to use Simple Assessment to collect tax. Both methods save taxpayers from the need to complete a tax return.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 10 January (HL Deb col 8), where it was asserted that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has forecasts for how many people will be filling in tax returns or required to pay tax, whether they will publish the forecasts for the next five years.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The estimated number of people required to pay income tax over the next five years was published in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2023 Economic and Fiscal Outlook^[1].

[1] Table 1.1, https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Nov-2023-EFO-additional-taxpayers-by-tax-rate-band.pdf

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an equalities impact assessment of proposals for a points-based penalty regime for late submissions of tax returns.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

A new points-based penalty system was brought in on 1 January 2023 for all VAT-registered businesses. The Government published the associated screening equality impact assessment on 23 March.

An equalities impact assessment covering the new penalty system for Income Tax Self-Assessment taxpayers will be published during its introduction.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what provision they have made for those who are unable to make their P11D returns online; and, if they have made no such provision, whether they plan to do so.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

The PAYE regulations have for some time required employers to make their regular payroll reports online and now also require employers to report P11D information online. Paper routes to submit these will continue to be available for the small number of digitally exempt customers for whom the existing PAYE regulations already make provision.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of paper tax returns submitted before the 31 October deadline had (a) been processed and (b) had any arising demands for payment of tax owed issued by midnight on 31 January in financial year 2021-22.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

I refer the Honourable Member to the reply given to him on 9^th February 2023, reference 140289.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of paper tax returns submitted before the 31 October deadline had by midnight of the following 31 January (a) been processed and (b) had any arising demands for payment of tax owed issued in each of the last five years.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Information in the form requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that HMRC process refunds promptly for people owed payments following their self-assessment tax returns.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

HMRC has a service level agreement to issue the majority of Self-assessment (SA) repayments in 15 working days. HMRC are currently achieving this level of service, and are issuing approximately 80 per cent within 10 days, although some repayments do take longer due to additional security and compliance checks.

There is an automated process for issuing repayments resulting from the submission of online SA Returns so these will be issued when the returns are submitted, subject to any additional checks.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with HMRC on technical problems affecting the availability of public helplines for self-assessments.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

HMRC have introduced a ‘Period of Restricted Change’ to protect live service by reducing the volume of changes made to our IT / Telephony service. This vastly reduces the risk of IT and Telephony outages.

Every January, HMRC introduce a Key Business Event wrap-around support for ‘Self-Assessment’ which in essence, provides protective guardrails across the end-to-end service, including the Online customer services and Telephony lines, but also the underpinning infrastructure, at this crucial business peak for HMRC.’

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps has he taken to help ensure that people can easily contact HMRC on the matter of self- assessments.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

January is the busiest time of the year for HMRC due to the Self-Assessment filing peak. Helplines are busy, and wait times are longer than usual.

HMRC encourages customers to check online instead of waiting on phonelines, saving them time and effort. The quickest and easiest way to manage tax affairs and answer queries is through the HMRC app or the personal tax account.

Customers can also go online to use HMRC’s digital assistant, guidance and helpsheets on GOV.UK, youtube videos and live webinars.

Every January, HMRC moves significant numbers of staff from other business areas to prioritise the Self-Assessment (SA) helpline to help people in the run up to the filing deadline.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of self-assessment as a mechanism for ensuring the collection of all taxes owed to HMRC.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

Over £100 billion of tax receipts in 2021-2022 were received through Income Tax Self Assessment and Corporation Tax Self Assessment.

Individuals and businesses with taxable income that has not already been fully taxed at source are required to report that income and pay the tax due through the Income Tax Self Assessment system. Companies self-assess their tax liabilities and pay their tax through the Corporation tax self assessment system.

HMRC has the power to check self-assessed tax liabilities, investigate and assess further tax if necessary.

HMRC monitors the effectiveness of Self Assessment in a variety of ways, including the annual measurement of tax receipts and through estimates and analysis of the tax gap. HMRC also engages with taxpayers and their representatives at a variety of customer and agent community forums such as the Admin Burden Advisory Board, the Individual Stakeholder Forum and the Business Tax forum.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to minimise the amount of interest charged to people whose self-assessment tax accounts are in query and who face delays in receiving information from HMRC.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

HMRC does not have an estimate of the amount of interest that is being charged on tax that is outstanding on self-assessment tax accounts and this information could only be obtained and compiled at a disproportionate cost.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of interest charged to people whose self-assessment tax accounts have been queried and who face delays in receiving information from HMRC.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

HMRC does not have an estimate of the amount of interest that is being charged on tax that is outstanding on self-assessment tax accounts and this information could only be obtained and compiled at a disproportionate cost.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the number of court cases relating to persons filing fraudulent self-assessment tax claims without the claimant's knowledge.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

HMRC has a duty to protect the tax system from potential fraudulent repayment claims being made which undermine both public confidence in the system and reduces the amount of money available to fund our vital public services.

Over 90 per cent of HMRC’s Income Tax Self-Assessment repayment requests come from a genuine person and are paid without suspension or intervention. However, their systems are continually under attack from fraudsters.

Over the last 8 years, HMRC have successfully countered fraudulent repayments through rigorous risk assessment and other upstream initiatives. However, the volume of attempts to defraud them has also increased and they must continually adapt their response.

A release of the information requested in these questions, including the numbers of cases worked and the outcome of those cases, could undermine the compliance activity which HMRC are undertaking. This could in turn prejudice any investigations into suspected repayment fraud.

Where a fraudster has been identified, HMRC will not give them agent codes and will suspend any codes that may already be active in order to maintain the integrity of the tax system, safeguard customer data, and protect revenues.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether SA1 registration forms for Self-Assessment are retained by HMRC after processing.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Paper SA1 Registrations forms are retained for three years after processing. In cases where the SA1 cannot be processed because there is insufficient information, a letter is sent to the customer requesting that information and the SA1 is deleted. The letter tells the customer to complete a new registration form.

SA1 forms submitted online are not retained.