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Companies: VAT

Asked by Edward MorelloLiberal DemocratTreasuryTabled Answered 8 September 2025UIN 73232

The question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average administrative cost is of collecting VAT from a VAT-registered company.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson

HMRC calculate annually the cost to collect £1 of VAT. In 2024-25, it cost 0.58 pence, i.e. less than one penny, to collect £1 of VAT on average. This ratio has been broadly stable over recent years.

Cost of Collection - VAT - 5 year Trend from 2020-2021 to 2024-2025

2020-2021

2021-2022

2022-2023

2023-2024

2024-2025

pence

pence

pence

pence

pence

VAT

0.63

0.52

0.54

0.58

0.58

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