HMRC brought in £50.2 billion of compliance yield in 2025 to 2026, the first year it has passed £50 billion, according to HMRC’s annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026. That compares with £48.0 billion in 2024 to 2025 and £30.8 billion in 2021 to 2022. The yield came in marginally below HMRC’s target of £50.4 billion for the year.
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| Figure | Value | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Total compliance yield | £50.2 billion | HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, year 2025 to 2026 |
| Compliance yield, previous year | £48.0 billion | HMRC compliance yield technical note 2025 to 2026, year 2024 to 2025 |
| Compliance yield target | £50.4 billion | HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, year 2025 to 2026 |
| Compliance checks carried out | 306,000 (10,000 fewer than 2024 to 2025) | HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, year 2025 to 2026 |
| Yield from Individuals and Small Business Compliance | £7,274 million | HMRC compliance yield technical note, year 2025 to 2026 |
| Return for every £1 spent on the compliance workforce | £22 on average | HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, year 2025 to 2026 |
| Additional compliance officers who joined | Over 1,600 | HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, year 2025 to 2026 |
| New criminal investigations opened | 494 | HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, year 2025 to 2026 |
Figures checked 31 October 2026.
What compliance yield measures
Compliance yield is HMRC’s estimate of the tax revenue that would otherwise have been lost without its compliance activity and policy changes. It is not the same as cash collected. HMRC splits it into downstream yield, which corrects non compliance after it has happened, and upstream yield, which aims to stop it happening in the first place.
The downstream parts are Cash Expected (tax, tax geared penalties and interest due from past non compliance that HMRC reasonably expects to collect), Revenue Loss Prevented (for example fraudulent or wrong repayment claims that are stopped) and Future Revenue Benefit (the expected effect of an intervention on a customer’s later returns). Upstream yield covers product and process changes, such as legislation closing loopholes, and operational work such as education, nudge and prompt campaigns and the deterrent effect of litigation.
Compliance yield over five years
The compliance yield technical note published with the 2025 to 2026 annual report gives the following series, in £ billion. HMRC notes that figures may not sum because of rounding.
| Component | 2021 to 2022 | 2022 to 2023 | 2023 to 2024 | 2024 to 2025 | 2025 to 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash Expected | 6.0 | 10.1 | 12.4 | 14.2 | 12.1 |
| Revenue Loss Prevented | 10.3 | 10.6 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 12.0 |
| Future Revenue Benefit | 5.2 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 5.0 |
| Upstream operational | 3.9 | 5.3 | 10.2 | 14.7 | 16.1 |
| Upstream product and process | 5.4 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 5.0 |
| Total | 30.8 | 34.0 | 41.8 | 48.0 | 50.2 |
As a simple calculation from these figures, total yield rose by £2.2 billion (about 4.6%) between 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026, and by £19.4 billion over the four years from 2021 to 2022. Cash Expected fell from £14.2 billion to £12.1 billion in the latest year, while Revenue Loss Prevented and upstream operational yield both grew.
The shift towards prevention shows clearly. HMRC reports that yield from upstream activities grew as a proportion of its compliance yield target from 23.9% in 2019 to 2020 to 41.8% in 2025 to 2026. HMRC says the 2025 to 2026 total was marginally below its £50.4 billion target, primarily because of changes to international tax rules known as Pillar 2.
Compliance yield by customer group
The technical note also breaks the 2025 to 2026 total of £50,211 million down by the HMRC directorate that produced it.
| Customer group | Yield 2025 to 2026 (£ million) |
|---|---|
| Large Business Directorate | 14,860 |
| Wealthy and Mid Sized Business Compliance | 9,962 |
| Individuals and Small Business Compliance | 7,274 |
| Fraud Investigation Service | 4,206 |
| Risk and Intelligence Service | 3,360 |
| Counter Avoidance | 461 |
| Other compliance activities (product and process change, debt collection and other) | 10,088 |
For accountants and their clients, the Individuals and Small Business Compliance line is the most relevant. Of its £7,274 million, £2,543 million came from Income Tax, £2,503 million from VAT, £615 million from Corporation Tax, £222 million from excise and £1,390 million from other interventions. VAT work is a large share of small business yield, which is one reason a VAT compliance check is a common experience for owner managed businesses.
Wealthy and Mid Sized Business Compliance produced £9,962 million, of which £2,831 million was Corporation Tax and £2,536 million Income Tax.
Compliance checks, criminal cases and nudges
HMRC’s annual report says it carried out 306,000 compliance checks in 2025 to 2026, a decrease of 10,000 compared with 2024 to 2025. HMRC does not publish a split of these checks into enquiries opened, closed or settled in the annual report. A check can range from a letter asking about one figure on a return to a full enquiry, and our guide on what happens in an HMRC compliance check sets out the usual stages. Where HMRC finds tax missing for an earlier year, the case may lead to a discovery assessment.
At the serious end, HMRC opened 494 new criminal investigations in 2025 to 2026, an increase of 10.8% compared with 2024 to 2025. It reports 300 prosecutions brought as a result of its criminal investigations and 260 convictions, with an 87% success rate in court.
Upstream work increasingly relies on prompts rather than investigations. In 2025 to 2026 HMRC worked with software providers and agents to support 3.2 million small businesses to claim business expenses correctly, using digital nudges shown while the return was being completed. HMRC says this, alongside targeted communications to 1.2 million customers, brought in £36.4 million of additional revenue in 2025 to 2026. Letters of this kind are covered in our page on HMRC nudge letters.
Worried about an HMRC check?
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Large businesses: what the NAO found
The National Audit Office report Taxing large businesses (HC 1647, February 2026) looked at the directorate that works with around 2,000 of the UK’s largest business groups. The NAO found that the directorate achieved a compliance yield of £15.8 billion in 2024 to 2025, roughly double its 2021 to 2022 level, a return of £95 for every £1 spent on staff pay. Across HMRC’s entire compliance group the comparable return was £25 for every £1 in 2024 to 2025.
The NAO reports that the directorate has approximately 2,500 full time equivalent staff and that in 2024 to 2025 it opened 1,812 downstream interventions and closed 1,722. As at October 2025, large businesses had £70.1 billion of tax under consideration in open HMRC compliance interventions, up from £42.8 billion in October 2023.
Compliance staffing and targets
HMRC is recruiting an additional 5,500 compliance officers over 2025 to 2030. The annual report says over 1,600 additional compliance officers joined in 2025 to 2026, taking the total recruited so far to over 2,100, and HMRC states it is ahead of its plan. HMRC also says that annual yield is expected to increase by a further £10 billion as it works to reduce the tax gap by 2030.
On value for money, HMRC reports that its compliance work returned on average £22 for every £1 spent on its compliance workforce in 2025 to 2026. The NAO figure of £25 relates to 2024 to 2025 and staff pay, so the two are not directly comparable. HMRC’s provisional tax gap for 2024 to 2025 is 6.4%; our HMRC tax gap statistics page covers that series in detail.
What do these figures mean for insurance?
More compliance officers and a rising yield target point to continued checks on individuals and small businesses, alongside more automated letters and prompts. Even a check that ends with no extra tax can take many hours of an accountant’s time to answer HMRC’s questions and agree the position.
Tax investigation insurance, often provided through an accountant’s fee protection service, is designed to pay the professional fees for handling an HMRC enquiry or compliance check. It does not normally pay the tax, interest or penalties found to be due. Cover depends on the policy wording: most policies have limits, exclusions for deliberate behaviour or issues known before cover started, and conditions such as filing returns on time. Some policies exclude or limit cover for responses to nudge letters, and some cover VAT and employer compliance visits only as an option.
If you are an accountant considering a scheme for your clients, see our accountant scheme. For individual businesses, our tax investigation insurance page explains how cover works and we will look for cover that fits. Our guide on who pays accountants’ fees in an HMRC enquiry covers the position when there is no policy.
Frequently asked questions
How much compliance yield did HMRC bring in for 2025 to 2026?
HMRC reports £50.2 billion of compliance yield for 2025 to 2026, against a target of £50.4 billion. It was the first year the total passed £50 billion.
Is compliance yield the same as tax collected from investigations?
No. It is an estimate that includes cash expected from past non compliance, revenue protected by stopping wrong claims, expected future behaviour change and the effect of law and process changes. Cash Expected was £12.1 billion of the 2025 to 2026 total.
How many compliance checks did HMRC carry out?
HMRC carried out 306,000 compliance checks in 2025 to 2026, 10,000 fewer than in 2024 to 2025, according to its annual report and accounts.
How many compliance officers is HMRC recruiting?
HMRC is recruiting an additional 5,500 compliance officers over 2025 to 2030. Over 1,600 joined in 2025 to 2026, and more than 2,100 have joined so far.
Does tax investigation insurance pay the tax HMRC finds?
Generally no. These policies are designed to pay the accountant’s or adviser’s fees for dealing with the enquiry, not the tax, interest or penalties. The exact cover depends on the policy wording, so check the limits and exclusions.
Sources
- HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026: performance analysis
- HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026: executive summary
- HMRC: compliance yield technical note, 2025 to 2026
- NAO: Taxing large businesses (February 2026)
Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 31 October 2026. Solar Protect is the trading name of Solar Insurance Services (Medway) Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This page is general information, not advice on your own cover.