HMRC bosses also spoke to MPs about major changes to ISAs and pensions
HMRC boss John-Paul Marks spoke about the work of his department(Image: Parliament TV)
HMRC chiefs have spoken to MPs about major changes coming up affecting many taxpayers. Bosses from the tax authority appeared before the Treasury Committee on January 13 to answer questions about their work.
John-Paul Marks, the first permanent secretary and chief executive of HMRC, discussed the growing workload of the tax body and their ongoing recruitment efforts. He predicted there would be an increase in their workload in the coming years due to significant tax changes, such as the changes to ISAs announced in the Autumn Budget. The HMRC chiefs also provided an update on major plans to change how income tax applies to state pensioners.
Mr Marks also pointed to several areas where HMRC is making “significant” changes. He spoke about plans for “an increase in the amount of chargeable decisions, investigations”, and that there is work to do around “the transformation with third-party data and on risking”.
Changes from Spring 2026
He also flagged an impending change that will impact many taxpayers. Mr Marks said: “We’ve got Making Tax Digital rollout through this period as well, to commence from the Spring.”
Making Tax Digital is a scheme requiring specific taxpayers to maintain electronic records and submit routine reports to HMRC. Starting from April 6, 2026, when the fresh tax year starts, any business, self-employed person or landlord earning above £50,000 annually will need to keep computerised records and file quarterly data with HMRC using approved software.
This income threshold is being progressively lowered, bringing more individuals into scope, falling to £30,000 from April 2028.
‘Malicious attack’
Asked what concerns him for the future, Mr Marks spoke about the issue of “underlying resilience and the security threat”. He explained: “Last time we were here, we talked about PAYE and organised crime.
“It does feel to me like we are operating in an environment where the threat environment is constantly changing, and is high. Our plans could always be disrupted by some sort of malicious attack that we have to handle.
“We are improving our underlying resilience to respond to those, but it is always a concern.” Last year, HMRC wrote to some 100,000 taxpayers following a data breach by hackers, with fraudsters stealing some £47million.
No individual taxpayer suffered financial losses as a consequence of the cyber breach. On a brighter note, Mr Marks informed the committee that HMRC has been improving its telephone service and is “answering more phone calls more quickly” than at the same point last year.
He also outlined the department’s strategy for addressing the ‘tax gap’ – the difference between tax revenue owed and what HMRC actually collects. Statistics released in June 2025 revealed that during the 2023/2024 tax year, approximately £46.8billion in outstanding tax remained unpaid to HMRC.
The executive explained: “If we look at the tax gap, the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] show an illustrative scenario in their publication of that falling over the next forecast period, and taken together, the tax gap packages make up about £10billion of additional tax revenue that what would otherwise have been.”
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