Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Department for Business and Trade, Annual report and accounts, 2025-26, HC 349, July 2026, p.214, whether his Department holds a consolidated list of which departments and Arm’s Length Bodies have IR35 tax irregularities identified by HMRC.
HMRC has a statutory duty of confidentiality under section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005. This prevents HMRC from disclosing information about identifiable taxpayers, including whether a particular body is subject to an investigation, unless there is lawful authority to do so
HMRC cannot provide Ministers with information identifying which central government departments or arm’s-length bodies are, or are not, under investigation. Nor can HMRC provide aggregate figures relating to groups of individuals or organisations if providing those figures could, when combined with information already in the public domain, enable the bodies concerned to be identified or allow inferences to be drawn about other bodies.