Financial Services: Tax Evasion
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the annual cost to HMRC through the facilitation of tax evasion by the financial services sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimate the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics and details of the estimate methodologies are published annually and are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2025 edition: tax gap estimates for 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK
Table 7.1 of the online tables shows the illustrative tax gap time series by behaviour, including evasion. The tax gap for evasion was £6.4 billion in tax year 2023 to 2024. The online tables are available at: Measuring tax gaps tables - GOV.UK.
HMRC does not separately estimate the tax gap due to tax evasion facilitated by the financial services sector.
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