HMRC statistics: tax receipts, taxpayers, tax gap and trade

HMRC statistics are the official figures HM Revenue and Customs publishes on the taxes, National Insurance contributions and benefits it administers, from monthly cash receipts to annual estimates of who pays income tax and how much tax goes uncollected. HMRC also publishes UK trade in goods statistics on its uktradeinfo website. Fact-checkers use them for claims about tax revenue, the share of tax paid by top earners, the tax gap and trade with particular countries.

Covers: UK · Release calendar

What it publishes

A monthly bulletin and spreadsheet of cash receipts for every tax and duty HMRC collects, including Income Tax, NICs, VAT, Corporation Tax, fuel duties and stamp taxes, with monthly data from April 2017 and annual data over a longer run.
An annual receipts bulletin covering the last 20 years of receipts in cash terms and as a share of GDP, aligned to HMRC's annual report and accounts.
Income Tax liabilities statistics: numbers of Income Tax payers and tax due by income range, marginal rate, age, sex, country and region, including the shares of Income Tax paid by the top 1%, 10% and 50% of taxpayers.
Personal incomes statistics from the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI), a large sample of HMRC records, giving income and tax by percentile, region, local authority and Parliamentary constituency.
Measuring tax gaps, an annual estimate of the difference between the tax that should in theory be paid and what is actually paid, broken down by tax, type of taxpayer and behaviour.
Tax ready reckoners showing the estimated direct effect on revenue of illustrative changes, such as a 1 percentage point change in a tax rate, and statistics on the cost of tax reliefs.
Statistics on Child Benefit, tax credits, Tax-Free Childcare, ISAs, pensions tax relief, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax and property transactions.
Overseas and regional trade in goods statistics, by country and commodity, published on the uktradeinfo website with an open API.

Key datasets

HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK
The monthly bulletin, annual bulletin and ODS statistics table of HMRC cash receipts by tax for the UK. This page is replaced each month with the latest release; earlier editions are on The National Archives.
Updated: Monthly
Annual tax receipts bulletin
Twenty years of annual receipts by tax in cash and as a percentage of GDP, with the latest tax year aligned to HMRC's annual report and accounts.
Updated: Annual, with the next release due early 2027
Income Tax statistics and distributions
Tables of Income Tax payers and liabilities by marginal rate, income range, age, sex and region for the UK and its countries, plus historical tables. Recent years are projected from the SPI.
Updated: Annual
Shares of total income and Income Tax by percentile group (Table 2.4)
The table behind claims such as 'the top 1% pay a given share of Income Tax', showing shares of income before and after tax and of Income Tax liabilities for percentile groups of taxpayers.
Updated: Annual
Personal incomes statistics (Survey of Personal Incomes)
SPI-based tables 3.1 to 3.15: income percentiles, income and tax by sex, age, region, local authority and Parliamentary constituency, with confidence intervals for small areas. Most tables cover Income Tax payers only.
Updated: Annual, with roughly a two-year lag
Measuring tax gaps
Tax gap estimates for all taxes and duties HMRC administers, in pounds and as a percentage of theoretical liabilities, by tax, customer group and behaviour (such as error, evasion or avoidance). The 2026 edition covers 2024 to 2025.
Updated: Annual, usually in June
Tax ready reckoners
Estimated effects on receipts of illustrative changes to rates, thresholds and allowances over the next three tax years, measured against an indexed baseline. They are a guide to scale, not a costing of a specific policy.
Updated: Annual
Tax relief statistics
HMRC estimates of the cost of tax reliefs and allowances, such as pensions relief and the personal allowance, for the UK.
Updated: Annual
Disaggregation of HMRC tax receipts
Estimates of HMRC receipts split between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, useful for claims about how much tax each nation contributes.
Updated: Annual
UK trade data on uktradeinfo
Overseas trade in goods (imports and exports by country and commodity) and regional trade statistics, with a custom table builder and bulk files. Monthly provisional estimates; covers trade in goods only.
Updated: Monthly (overseas trade), quarterly (regional trade)

APIs and downloads

uktradeinfo API
Open OData REST API returning JSON for overseas and regional trade statistics, commodities and traders. No key or authorisation header. Limited to 60 requests per minute and 40,000 items per response, with an @odata.nextLink for paging.
uktradeinfo API documentation
Endpoints, sample queries, rate limits and pagination rules for the trade API.
uktradeinfo bulk data sets
Downloadable bulk files of detailed trade data with technical specifications for each format.
GOV.UK Content API for the receipts release
JSON description of the current receipts release, including links to the latest ODS table, which changes address each month. No key needed; the same /api/content/ prefix works for any GOV.UK statistics page.
Measuring tax gaps tables
Full tax gap time series as spreadsheets (ODS), by tax and component.

When it publishes

The monthly receipts bulletin is published at 7am on the 15th working day of each month (the 16th if the 15th falls on a Monday), the same day and time as the ONS Public sector finances release. The next monthly release is due on 21 October 2026. Most other HMRC statistics are annual, with dates pre-announced on the GOV.UK release calendar and changes listed on HMRC's schedule of updates. Overseas trade in goods statistics follow the uktradeinfo release calendar, with the next due on 15 October 2026.

How to use it to check a claim

For 'record tax take' claims, use the annual bulletin and compare receipts as a share of GDP as well as in cash, since cash receipts rise with inflation and earnings.
For monthly or year-to-date claims, use the same months of the previous year and read the bulletin's notes on timing: Self Assessment payments peak in January and July, so January and February are best read together.
For 'the top 1% pay X% of Income Tax' claims, use Table 2.4 and check which tax year it refers to and whether the year is an outturn or a projection.
For claims about tax in a constituency or local area, use SPI Table 3.14 or 3.15 and quote the confidence interval, because small-area figures come from a sample.
For tax gap claims, check whether a figure is in pounds or a percentage of theoretical liabilities, and which year's edition it comes from, since earlier years are revised in each edition.
For trade with a particular country, use uktradeinfo and note whether figures are monthly provisional estimates, and that they cover goods only; services trade is published by the ONS.
When a minister quotes a receipts figure, check whether it is HMRC cash receipts or the ONS public sector finances measure, which is on an accrued basis and covers more than HMRC taxes.

Common mistakes

HMRC monthly receipts are on a cash basis, while the ONS public sector finances and HMRC's annual accounts use accrued figures, so totals for the same period differ.
HMRC receipts exclude taxes it does not collect, such as council tax, business rates and devolved property and landfill taxes in Scotland and Wales, so they are not the same as total government revenue.
Income Tax liabilities (tax due on a year's income) and Income Tax receipts (tax collected in a year) answer different questions and do not match, partly because Self Assessment is paid in arrears.
From the August 2026 release HMRC aligns monthly Income Tax, NICs and VAT receipts to its accounting data, and the bulletin advises caution with year-on-year comparisons for those taxes in 2026 to 2027.
Rate changes, such as the cuts to employee and self-employed National Insurance in 2024 and the employer NICs changes from April 2025, shift receipts between months and years.
Tax gap estimates are modelled, rely on surveys and compliance data, and the most recent year is the least certain.

How much tax does HMRC collect each year?

The annual tax receipts bulletin on GOV.UK gives total HMRC receipts for each tax year over the last 20 years, broken down by tax and expressed in cash and as a share of GDP. The monthly bulletin shows year-to-date receipts for the current year. Both are cash receipts, so they differ slightly from the accrued figures in HMRC's annual report and accounts.

What share of Income Tax do the top 1% pay?

HMRC answers this in Table 2.4 of its Income Tax statistics and distributions, which gives the shares of income and of Income Tax liabilities for percentile groups of taxpayers. The table covers taxpayers rather than all adults, and the latest years are projections from the Survey of Personal Incomes, so check the year and its status before quoting a share.

What is the UK tax gap?

The tax gap is HMRC's estimate of the difference between the tax that should in theory be paid and the tax actually paid. It is published each year in Measuring tax gaps, by tax, by type of taxpayer and by behaviour, such as error, failure to take reasonable care, evasion or avoidance. Each edition revises earlier years, so quote the edition as well as the year.

Where can I find official UK trade figures with a specific country?

HMRC publishes trade in goods statistics on uktradeinfo.com, where you can build custom tables by country, commodity and month, download bulk files, or query the open API. These cover goods only. For trade in services, or the combined goods and services totals used in the national accounts, use the ONS trade release.

Questions answered using this source

Links checked 2026-10-13. This page describes what the source publishes and gives no verdict on any claim.