Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Official Statistics by HMRC entitled Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023, updated on 20 June 2024, updated on 21 March 2025, what steps she is taking to collect the uncollected theoretical tax liabilities.

A key part of restoring economic stability and fiscal responsibility is closing the tax gap. Unpaid tax deprives UK public services of vital funding and puts businesses who pay the right tax at a competitive disadvantage.

At the Budget last autumn, the government introduced the most ambitious package ever to close the tax gap, ensuring more individuals and businesses pay the taxes they owe. At the Spring Statement, the government built on this and announced a package of measures to further close the tax gap and raise over £1 billion in additional gross tax revenue per year by 2029-30.

At the Spring Statement, the government announced it will fund the recruitment of a further 500 compliance officers, bringing the total compliance officer growth since July 2024 to 5,500 by 2029/30.

In addition, the government will fund the recruitment of an additional 600 staff into HMRC’s debt management teams to ensure those who can afford to pay their tax debts do so. It is also delivering on its commitments to prosecute more tax fraudsters, to introduce a new HMRC reward scheme for informants, to tackle ‘phoenixism’, and to overhaul HMRC’s approach to offshore tax non-compliance. The government has also set out its plans to go further in the future to make it easier for taxpayers to pay the right tax through a modern and digital tax system.