HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not know how many billionaires pay tax in the UK, nor how much they contribute overall, according to a new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The findings raise fresh concerns about HMRC’s ability to monitor high-net-worth individuals and close the growing gap between tax owed and tax paid.
The PAC has called on HMRC to publish a detailed plan outlining how it will increase tax yields from wealthy individuals both in the UK and offshore. The committee said there is significant public interest in ensuring that the wealthiest members of society contribute fairly and that HMRC has the tools and data to assess their tax position accurately.
The report pointed to available sources such as The Sunday Times Rich List and advancements in artificial intelligence as untapped resources that could help HMRC identify and track wealth more effectively. In the United States, for example, the Internal Revenue Service has worked with researchers to compare its own records with The Forbes 400 list.
Despite this, HMRC told the committee that it does not collect data on taxpayers’ total wealth, as it only gathers information required to administer the tax system under current UK law.
The committee said this lack of insight is concerning given the large sums potentially involved. It noted that since 2019 HMRC has defined wealthy individuals as those with incomes of £200,000 or more, or assets of at least £2 million over a three-year period. However, it treats all wealthy taxpayers as one group, without further segmentation based on the scale or complexity of wealth.
The PAC recommended that HMRC explore whether dividing wealthy taxpayers into subgroups based on risk or complexity would improve targeting and compliance. It also asked HMRC to explain how newly confirmed funding would lead to improved performance, and to clarify its goals for future investment.
HMRC’s wealthy compliance team currently consists of about 1,000 staff and administers approximately 850,000 individuals, up from 700,000 in 2019. The department has secured funding to hire an additional 400 staff to focus on tax from wealthy and offshore accounts.
While HMRC has doubled the yield from compliance work in this area in recent years, collecting £5.2 billion in 2023 to 2024 compared to £2.2 billion in 2019 to 2020, the PAC said this success raises questions. Either non-compliance among the wealthy is worsening, or past estimates of avoidance were too low.
PAC member Lloyd Hatton said the report was not about political debate on redistribution, but about helping HMRC do its job properly. “We already know a great deal about billionaires living in the UK, with much information in the public domain. So we were disappointed that HMRC could not offer clearer insights from its own data.”
He added that the lack of penalties issued to enablers of tax evasion was particularly troubling. Advisers who help structure offshore arrangements often play a central role in helping the wealthy avoid tax, the report said. HMRC was urged to review whether it is making full use of its enforcement powers and sanctions.
An HMRC spokesperson responded by highlighting new resources announced in the recent spending review. These include the recruitment of 400 additional specialists to help tackle the tax gap among the wealthy and offshore account holders.
“The Government is determined to make sure everyone pays the tax they owe,” the spokesperson said. “These new resources will allow us to significantly expand our work in this area and increase prosecutions of those who evade tax.”
For business owners, especially those with complex financial affairs or offshore exposure, the report serves as a timely reminder of the importance of robust tax planning, transparency, and staying ahead of evolving compliance standards.
