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.

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.