The FDA welcomes the inclusion of our proposals in Labour’s plan for large scale investment into HMRC’s compliance and customer service work, and is pleased they understand the need to invest in HMRC to close the tax gap. Our findings show that an investment of £910m would return £11.3bn to the Treasury over the course of a parliament.

Labour’s plan to close the tax gap cites our recent report from the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) – the FDA union’s section for HMRC – Funding the Nation: Optimising HMRC. This report explores how HMRC can be optimised to better provide for our public services.
 
Responding to Labour’s plan, in comments reported by the Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Independent and ITV News, FDA Assistant General Secretary Lauren Crowley said:
 
“We are pleased to see the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer engage with our report and that Labour’s plan recognises the scale of investment required. We call on whoever forms the next government to implement our proposals in full to ensure HMRC has the resources necessary to maximise funds for the Treasury and Britain’s public services.
 
“Delivering more for less is a soundbite. We are offering concrete proposals to help future governments unlock HMRC’s full potential.
 
“Only a world-class, well-resourced tax administration can overcome new technological challenges, stay ahead of criminals and fund the nation.” 

Funding the Nation was launched in parliament on 19 March.
 
The report’s key findings:

• We estimate that the direct cost of HMRC’s current 24 minute average customer hold time and poor postal services is costing UK businesses around £1bn per annum
• A survey of HMRC staff found that 15% of the workforce lose more than four hours to poor technology each week (10% of their working time)
• Across the whole department, HMRC staff lose more than 4 million working hours to poor technology each year
• Using historic yields as a guide, ARC has modelled that if the UK government invested £700m into its compliance regime, with a further £210m into its customer services, it would expect to raise £11.3bn for the next government over a parliament

You can read the full report and find out more about the Funding the Nation campaign at fundingthenation.org