Measuring tax gaps
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) statistics and methodological annexes relating to measuring tax gaps.
Documents
Details
This report provides an estimate of the tax gap across all taxes and duties administered by HMRC.
The tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid.
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Methodological annex
The annex document provides more detail of the data and methodology used to produce estimates of the tax gap.
Online tables
The full data series can be seen in the online tables.
Archived tax gap reports
Previous editions of the tax gap reports are available on The National Archives website:
Further information and feedback
This statistical release has been produced by government analysts working within HMRC, in line with the values, principles and protocols set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
HMRC is committed to providing impartial quality statistics that meet user needs. We encourage users to engage with us so that we can improve the official statistics and identify gaps in the statistics that are produced.
You can also contact Anthony Burke directly with questions or comments about the ‘Measuring tax gaps’ series.
Last updated 30 July 2020 + show all updates
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Updated to correct errors identified in the behaviour breakdowns (pages 13 and 23) and the tobacco tax gap due to a correction in the cross-border shopping estimates (pages 20, 21, 25, 37, 41 to 46, and 54).
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Updated to publish 'Measuring tax gaps 2020 edition - tax gap estimates for 2018 to 2019', and 'Measuring tax gaps 2020 edition - methodological annex'.
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This release has been updated with a correction to the 2017 to 2018 lower estimate of the cigarette illicit market in Table 3.3.
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Updated to publish 'Measuring tax gaps 2019 edition - tax gap estimates for 2017 to 2018', and 'Measuring tax gaps 2019 edition: Methodological annex'.
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Updated to publish 'Measuring tax gaps 2018 edition - Tax gap estimates for 2016-17', and 'Measuring tax gaps 2018 edition: Methodological annex'.
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Updated to publish 'Measuring tax gaps 2017 edition - Tax gap estimates for 2015-16', and 'Measuring tax gaps 2017 edition: Methodological annex'
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New edition for 2016
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Amend to page 5 of Measuring Tax Gaps; the value of the tax gap by customer group for Individuals has been corrected to show £2.9 billion (rather than £2.1 billion).
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New edition for 2015
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New edition for 2014
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Update to include information for 2013
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First published.
