UK Tax Statistics 2026

This page compiles official UK tax statistics drawn from HMRC, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and ONS publications. Figures cover receipts, liabilities, taxpayer counts and fiscal forecasts up to the 2025-26 fiscal year. Updated June 2026.

Headline figures for 2026

HMRC published its 2025-26 annual bulletin in 2026, covering all taxes administered by the department for the full financial year. Total receipts of £938.8 billion represent a 9.3% increase on the prior year and equal 30.7% of GDP (HMRC Annual Bulletin, 2025-26). The combined Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and NICs group again dominated the revenue base at £552.8 billion, accounting for 59% of all receipts (HMRC Annual Bulletin, 2025-26). The OBR March 2026 forecast places the National Accounts tax burden at 36.3% of GDP in 2025-26, rising to 38.5% by 2030-31 (OBR, March 2026).

Total HMRC receipts by tax type

The Trust Statement for 2024-25 provides the most granular per-tax breakdown from the official accounts. Income tax remains the largest single contributor at £309.4 billion, followed by VAT at £178.5 billion and NICs at £168.8 billion (HMRC Trust Statement, 2024-25). Corporation tax at £89.6 billion reflects the full-year impact of the 25% main rate introduced from April 2023 (HMRC Trust Statement, 2024-25). Inheritance tax receipts reached £8.2 billion in 2024-25, continuing an upward trend driven by frozen nil-rate bands (HMRC Trust Statement, 2024-25).

Income tax liabilities and taxpayers

HMRC's Personal Incomes Statistics for 2023-24 show 36.7 million income tax payers, up 2.17 million on the prior year, declaring total income before tax of £1.53 trillion (HMRC Personal Incomes Statistics, 2023-24). Total income tax charged reached £274 billion, an increase of £29.1 billion (11.9%) compared with 2022-23 (HMRC Personal Incomes Statistics, 2023-24). Additional-rate taxpayers (0.9 million, or 2.4% of all payers) accounted for 37.7% of all income tax charged, while the 5.8 million higher-rate payers (15.7%) contributed a further 32.0% (HMRC Personal Incomes Statistics, 2023-24). Total income tax liabilities are projected at £323 billion for 2025-26 (HMRC Income Tax Liabilities Statistics, 2022-23 to 2025-26).

Self Assessment filing

For the 2024-25 tax year, 11.48 million Self Assessment returns were filed by the 31 January 2026 deadline against 12,029,168 expected returns, a compliance rate of 91.1% (HMRC, January 2026). Of returns filed, 97.25% (11,173,825) were submitted online, with only 316,000 paper returns received (HMRC, January 2026). On the final day, 475,722 returns were filed, with a peak of 32,982 submissions in the 17:00 to 17:59 hour (HMRC, January 2026).

OBR forecasts and the tax burden

The OBR's March 2026 Economic and Fiscal Outlook projects National Accounts taxes rising from 36.3% of GDP in 2025-26 to 38.5% of GDP by 2030-31, a post-war record approximately 6 percentage points above the pre-pandemic position (OBR, March 2026). Around four-fifths of the projected reduction in borrowing over the forecast period is accounted for by a rising tax-to-GDP ratio rather than spending restraint (OBR, March 2026). HMRC's own expenditure of £6,562 million in 2024-25 generated £875.9 billion in tax revenue, a cost-of-collection ratio of 0.51 pence per pound (HMRC Annual Report, 2024-25).

Trends over time

Total HMRC receipts have more than doubled over the past two decades, rising from £238.8 billion in 2006-07 to £938.8 billion in 2025-26 (HMRC Annual Bulletin, 2025-26). The pandemic caused a contraction in 2020-21, followed by recovery and sustained growth driven by frozen income tax thresholds, rising wages and the increase in employer NICs from April 2025 (HMRC Annual Bulletin, 2025-26).

Breakdown by tax type

The table below uses Trust Statement data for 2024-25 (the most recently published full-year audited accounts) plus 2025-26 annual bulletin groupings for higher-level categories (HMRC Trust Statement, 2024-25; HMRC Annual Bulletin, 2025-26). Note that HMRC's annual bulletin groups income tax, CGT and NICs together; the Trust Statement provides the per-tax split for 2024-25.

Frequently asked questions

How much tax does HMRC collect each year?

Total HMRC tax revenues were £875.9 billion in 2024-25 (HMRC Annual Report, 2024-25), rising to £938.8 billion in 2025-26 (HMRC Annual Bulletin, 2025-26). These figures include income tax, National Insurance, VAT, corporation tax and all other taxes and duties administered by HMRC.

What is the UK tax burden as a percentage of GDP?

HMRC's annual bulletin puts total receipts at 30.7% of GDP for 2025-26 (HMRC Annual Bulletin, 2025-26). The OBR uses a broader National Accounts measure, which stood at 36.3% of GDP in 2025-26 and is forecast to reach 38.5% by 2030-31 (OBR, March 2026). The difference reflects coverage: the HMRC figure covers only HMRC-administered taxes, while the OBR measure includes all government taxes.

How many people pay income tax in the UK?

There were 36.7 million income tax payers in the 2023-24 tax year, up from 34.5 million in 2022-23 (HMRC Personal Incomes Statistics, 2023-24). This number is projected to reach 39.1 million by 2025-26, partly reflecting the ongoing freeze in the personal allowance (HMRC Income Tax Liabilities Statistics, 2022-23 to 2025-26).

What is the UK tax gap?

The tax gap is the difference between tax theoretically due and tax actually collected. For 2023-24, the gap was £46.8 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of theoretical liabilities (HMRC Measuring Tax Gaps, 2025 edition). Corporation tax accounts for the largest share at 40% (£18.6 billion), followed by income tax, NICs and CGT combined at 31% (£14.4 billion) and VAT at 19% (£8.9 billion) (HMRC Measuring Tax Gaps, 2025 edition).

How many Self Assessment returns are filed each year?

For the 2024-25 tax year, 11.48 million returns were filed by the 31 January 2026 deadline against 12,029,168 expected, a compliance rate of approximately 91% (HMRC, January 2026). 97.25% of all returns are now filed online (HMRC, January 2026).

Which tax raises the most revenue in the UK?

Income tax is the largest single revenue source. In 2024-25 it raised £309.4 billion (HMRC Trust Statement, 2024-25), ahead of VAT at £178.5 billion and National Insurance contributions at £168.8 billion. Together these three taxes account for approximately 75% of all HMRC revenues (HMRC Trust Statement, 2024-25).