HMRC withheld offshore tax avoidance figures for UK’s wealthy during election

Pressure on officials to publish estimate of offshore tax avoidance in almost £40bn of uncollected revenues

Tax officials are under pressure this weekend to publish estimated figures on offshore tax avoidance by some of the country’s wealthiest individuals after withholding the information in a report published during the election campaign.

In June 2022, Lucy Frazer, then financial secretary to the Treasury, pledged that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) would publish figures on the offshore tax gap, but the release of the figures has been repeatedly delayed. An HMRC report published on 20 June this year – four weeks after the election was called – estimated the tax gap to be £39.8bn for the 2022-23 tax year. The tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax that should be collected and what has actually been paid.