MPs call for action to stop abuse of £195bn tax reliefs

A lack of accountability, growing levels of fraud and excessive complexity mean that the Treasury needs to be more transparent about the multibillion pound tax breaks

The influential Treasury Committee has called on the Treasury and HMRC to provide a breakdown of the cost of operating the business tax relief regime, which currently offers over 1,800 separate tax schemes.

Following several evidence sessions, the MPs said that it was inexcusable for HMRC to not provide detailed costings about the effectiveness of the hundreds of tax breaks. At the moment only 105 of the total 1,180 reliefs are fully costed with an annual bill of £195bn.

MPs said that HMRC only publishes estimated cost data for 365, leaving 815 reliefs totally uncosted and recommended that HMRC publish cost data for all tax reliefs from the 2025/26 tax year onwards.

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