HMRC's role is to collect the taxes and duties that pay for the UK's services and fund its
benefits and credits. We are one of the UK's biggest organisations. While you may know
a little about how HMRC works - this should give you a flavour of how we all work together
as one HMRC.
Our Department administers 39 taxes, duties, benefits and credits. The government sets
out in law what they are, and how we should either collect or pay them out on its behalf.
All taxes and duties work in much the same way. We gather and store financial information
-- whether it's from businesses, employers or individuals and we collect the tax they
owe.
Where possible we encourage customers to complete their tax returns online freeing up our people
to, among other things, check that these amounts are correct. We can then turn our focus to
those who don't want to pay tax; those who do, but need extra help to get it right; and
those who need reimbursing because they've paid too much tax. We support our customers
online, via our website, through our call centres and with face to face support for
those who need it.
Helping customers to get it right and remain compliant, by either paying the right tax
or duty, or receiving the right benefits or credits, is done through four groups.
The first is Business Tax, this accounts for taxes and the supporting processes that relate
to business. These include: Corporation Tax, VAT, Customs and Excise duties and Stamp Duty.
Personal Tax mainly looks after individuals who pay Income Tax, National Insurance and
Inheritance Tax, as well as customers with more specialist needs, such as company directors,
and those with share schemes and trusts. Personal Tax also provides shared operations to the
other operational groups for example, contact centres and digital services for all our customers.
Benefits and Credits administer and pay Tax Credits -- which are Child Tax Credit and
Working Tax Credit. They also pay Child Benefit and guardian's allowance.
Finally, Enforcement and Compliance make sure that people pay the taxes they owe.
As you'll know, not all of our customers get it right. Sometimes it's an honest mistake,
but others will try to cheat the system. For these customers, we analyse the risks and
step in when we need to. We target where the risks are greatest -- both in the UK and abroad.
We might have reason to investigate a business or an individual and an investigation will
lead to an agreement of the correct tax or benefit due. We can also prosecute when people
have deliberately evaded tax or fraudulently claimed benefits.
We take pride in treating all our customers fairly and even-handedly, but that doesn't
mean we deal with everyone in exactly the same way. Customers who pay the most tax will
often have more complicated tax affairs. For that reason, we deal with them differently.
Big businesses have their own customer relationship managers in Business Tax, while wealthy individuals
deal with our High Net Worth Unit in Personal Tax.
This isn't about preferential treatment -- it's about managing risk effectively, and making
sure we get the best results for all UK taxpayers.
There's also much more behind the scenes, making sure everything runs as it should.
We have specialists to look after the UK's biggest IT set-up; HR, procurement, finance,
audit, estates, legal and communications. We also have experts working in Knowledge,
Analysis and Intelligence, Strategy and Policy.
So that's the essence of how we work together as one team; how we work together as one HMRC.
There's much more on our Internet pages. Thanks for listening.