Tax debt rises to £45.7bn as fewer taxpayers pay by instalment

Overall tax debt rose slightly to £45.7bn in the last quarter of 2023 from £45.5bn in the previous quarter while the numbers of taxpayers in time to pay instalment arrangements fell according to HMRC’s recent performance update.

While the tax debt figure was up by just 0.4% in the quarter ending 31 December 2023 against the previous quarter it was the second consecutive quarterly rise. This was despite new investments being made in HMRC’s debt management team.

Meanwhile the number of taxpayers in time-to-pay arrangements dropped 9% on a quarter-by-quarter basis from 888 863 to 808 025.

Dawn Register head of tax dispute resolution at BDO said: ‘Over the last two quarters we have seen tax debt levels slowly ticking up while instalment plans have declined. Worryingly both measures are going in the wrong direction. This is despite an extra £163m investment...