Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on the public purse of the potential tax underpayment of £24.8 billion in 2016-17 by large companies identified by HM Revenue and Customs in August 2017; and if he will make a statement.

At 31 March 2017 the amount of Tax Under Consideration for enquiries by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into the largest companies was £24.8 bn. Tax Under Consideration (TUC) is an HMRC measure on the maximum amount of tax that could potentially be collected from HMRC’s enquiries. TUC changes over time as enquiries progress and HMRC develop more certainty about the actual tax that needs to be paid. The TUC figure is different from the tax gap, which is the amount of tax HMRC legally expects to collect each year and the amount they actually collect. The UK’s overall tax gap has shown a long term fall, from 8.3% in 2005-06 to 6.5% in 2014-15 - one of lowest figures in the OECD.