Click button to open menu

HMRC's tax take falls by billions due to pandemic

08 Nov 2021

HMRC saw a drop of almost £30 billion in tax revenues in the latest financial year because of the pandemic, according to its annual accounts.

In its 2020/21 annual report, HMRC reported that it had collected £608.8 billion in tax revenues, which is down from £636.7 billion collected in 2019/20.

HMRC said the drop was due to by the 'unprecedented economic circumstances caused by COVID-19, and because pandemic restrictions meant HMRC had to reduce its compliance activity'.

The reduction in compliance activity resulted in a drop of 18% in the additional tax generated by HMRC's work tackling avoidance, evasion, and other non-compliance. This fell from £36.9 billion to £30.4 billion.

The tax authority has estimated that the tax gap has increased to 5.3% up from 4.7% last year.

HMRC reported that it delivered £60.7 billion in grants through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). HMRC's current estimate of error and fraud in the COVID-19 support scheme payments is £5.8 billion, of which £5.3 billion relates to the CJRS scheme. 

Registered to carry out work in England and Wales and regulated for a range of investment business activities by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

Details about our audit registration can be viewed at www.auditregister.org.uk for the UK under reference number C006856925

Home | Contact us | Accessibility | Disclaimer | Help | Site map |

© 2024 Greenaway Chartered Accountants. All rights reserved.

Greenaway Chartered Accountants, 150 High Street, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1XE

We use cookies on this website, you can find more information about cookies here.