Little sign of progress as tax debt rises to £44.7bn
Little sign of progress as tax debt rises to £44.7bn
New figures released on 9 July show that the value of tax debt remains stubbornly high with the amount of overdue tax owed to HMRC rising to £44.7bn at the end of March 2026, up from £44bn at the same point last year.
The value of new debt reached £103,592 million in the full year to the end of March 2026, up from £96,944 million in March 2025.
Meanwhile the amount of ‘resolved’ debt in the same period rose to £101,851 million, up from £96,738 million cleared in the previous year.
At the end of March 2026, there were 884,319 customers in Time to Pay arrangements, down from 913,209 in the prior year.
Dawn Register, a tax dispute resolution partner at BDO said: “When tax owed to HMRC becomes overdue for payment, it becomes classed as tax debt. Today’s figures show that tax debt levels remain stubbornly high.
“When the value of the new debt is outpacing the value of the debt that’s being cleared, this is resulting in an increase in the debt stock.
“At a time when the public finances are very strained it’s notable that HMRC is consulting on changing the rules on when tax is paid so that it collects some money earlier. It is also consulting on new powers to take money from taxpayers’ bank accounts regularly.”
The National Audit Office will be reporting on HMRC’s management of tax debt in Autumn this year. The Public Accounts Committee has also opened an inquiry into HMRC’s tax debt reduction efforts.
ENDS
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