Technology

Tax | Future HMRC phone system will be ‘radically different’, says tech chief

EXCLUSIVE: HMRC digital chief says multimillion investment in telephony overhaul will replace ‘ancient integrations from up to 50 systems’, stressing AI features will not ‘remove any people’

15 Sep 2026

Image for croner intelligence qa created experts powered ai

Business | Croner Intelligence Q&A: created by experts, powered by AI

Paul Robbins CTA ACA and Julien Gruhier answer our Q&A on what is Croner Intelligence, our brand new virtual assistant, created specifically for accountants and tax professionals, and why it is totally different from generic AI tools

10 Aug 2026

Tax | HMRC spends £202m on IT staff salaries, up 7% in a year

The total budget for HMRC’s IT function exceeded £1.1bn in 2025-26, up 17% year on year as salary costs soared despite little change in overall staff numbers

3 Aug 2026

Tax | 54% of taxpayers ‘frustrated’ with HMRC phone service

‘Unclear’ information on HMRC website pushes taxpayers onto ‘hard to navigate’ phonelines, while one in three taxpayers still only communicate by letter

10 Jul 2026

Tax | HMRC to use Peppol system for mandatory e-invoicing

Confirmation from HMRC it will use Peppol electronic procurement infrastructure for e-invoicing system due to become mandatory for all UK businesses in 2029

24 Jun 2026

Tax | HMRC rolls out MFA multi-factor authentication for tax advisers

HMRC warning on first sign-up deadline for accountants to move to mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA) to improve security on agent services accounts

23 Jun 2026

Tax | HMRC finalises £500m contract for phone and contact centre system

Major overhaul of outdated, legacy telephone and customer service centre at HMRC goes ahead as contract with Capgemini finalised for multimillion pound technology stack

4 Jun 2026

Tax | Amazon pays £1.3bn in UK business tax

Corporation tax, employer national insurance and business rates paid by tech giant Amazon jumps 30% in a year

28 May 2026

Tax | HMRC spends £1.05bn in major IT overhaul this year

Latest tech deal sees HMRC sign £175m AI agreement with Quantexa to modernise data mountain and identify tax fraud using decision intelligence platform

18 May 2026

Tax | 47% support AI tax as ‘minimum wage for robots’

As government faces calls for ‘minimum wage for robots’, poll finds nearly half want tax on AI work with growing apathy for automation discourse

8 May 2026

Tax | CapGemini wins £500m contract for HMRC phone system overhaul

HMRC awards multimillion pound contract to CapGemini to manage rollout of a brand new telephony and contact management system

30 Apr 2026

Tax | 28k staff given Copilot in major AI rollout at HMRC

Following a four-month trial, HMRC rolls out Microsoft Copilot AI tool to 28,000 staff with clearance to use even on ‘Official‑Sensitive’ information

30 Apr 2026