The outstanding tax figure is down from £57.5bn at the end of March 2021, which represents a 31% reduction on the highest level, £72bn, that was seen in August 2020.

HMRC stated that the high levels were due to temporarily deferred payments and that the debt balance had dropped because the deferred payments had started to become due. The tax authority said that it was also seeing strong levels of payments as they contact taxpayers.

The report also shows that the percentage of calls answered by HMRC has risen to 74% by the end of June which is the highest level it has seen for more than a year. HRMC also reports that 92% of its webchats were also answered.