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An introduction to UK taxes

Tax rates and allowances

Rates and allowances for taxes and benefits for 2025/26 and 2026/27 are set out in Annex A to HM Revenue & Customs, Overview of tax legislation and rates, updated 5 December 2025.

The Library publishes a short paper each year summarising rates and allowances for direct taxes (income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax). The edition for the 2026/27 tax year was published on 7 April 2026.

The Budget and the Finance Bill

Each year the Chancellor of the Exchequer presents the Budget, which contains all the tax measures for the year ahead. Traditionally the Budget has been in March, before the start of the tax year on 6 April. The statutory provisions to give effect to these tax measures are set out in a single piece of legislation: the annual Finance Bill.

It has been the practice in recent years for Chancellors to make tax announcements twice a year, using the Pre-Budget Report or Autumn Statement as a second fiscal event. In November 2016 the then Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that from autumn 2017 the government would present a single autumn Budget, to allow for greater Parliamentary scrutiny of Budget measures ahead of their implementation.

Following the 2024 General Election the Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented the Labour government’s first Budget on 30 October 2024. It remains the government’s policy to have one major fiscal event a year.

The Library briefing The Budget and the annual Finance Bill provides further details.

Tax statistics

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publishes data on tax receipts and taxpayers on its site.

These pages include:

• figures on the amounts raised from all national taxes
• details of the cost of basic tax reliefs, and
• illustrative changes to both direct and indirect taxes.

Statistics on VAT, excise duties, and other indirect taxes are on this site as well. Figures on receipts from National Insurance contributions is presented separately in the annual accounts of the National Insurance Fund.

In 2010 the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was established to provide independent and authoritative analysis of the UK’s public finances. The OBR’s projections for tax receipts over the next five years are in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook published in March 2026 (see Table A5: Current receipts). 

In addition to its medium-term forecasts, the OBR publishes an annual report on the main fiscal risks facing the UK and sustainability of the public finances over the long-term. The most recent edition was published in July 2026 (Fiscal Risks and Sustainability). Previously this analysis was presented in two separate reports.

As part of the data it regularly publishes, the OBR has a historical database of Budget and other fiscal event policy measures since 1970. The OBR also publishes a series of pages on individual taxes and elements of public spending.

The Library briefing Tax statistics: an overview provides an overview of tax statistics, including recent trends, forecasts, and distribution of taxpayers.

Sources of tax advice

HMRC provide detailed guidance for taxpayers, and for professional advisers and agents on its website. This includes a series of pages on individual aspects of the tax system: for example, income tax, capital gains tax, corporation tax, inheritance tax, VAT, advice for accountants and advisers and appeals against HMRC decisions.

HMRC publishes a Tax Agents Handbook to help tax agents and advisers find guidance, use HMRC's services and contact HMRC.

HMRC provide detailed technical guidance in series of manuals which cover both the scope of taxes and departmental practice.

HMRC also publish a list of contact addresses and helplines, as well as guidance for those who have additional needs.

Other useful sources of tax advice include:

• The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), is a charity that publishes guidance for taxpayers unable to afford professional legal advice. The charity’s site includes a series of pages on different sources of help.
• TaxAid is a charity providing advice services to people who cannot afford to pay a professional adviser. TaxAid also publishes advice on a series of topics, including detailed guidance on tax debt.
• HMRC’s guide Working with HMRC: guide for MPs (PDF) which sets out the services HMRC provides MPs and their staff to support them in dealing with tax-related enquiries from constituents. This is available on the Library’s site, for users with a Parliamentary login. It is not available to members of the public.

Further information

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) thinktank published information on the UK’s tax system on its Taxlab site. This includes:

• Data on individual taxes in ‘Taxes explained’
• Briefing material on basic trends in ‘Key Questions’, such as:
  • Where does the government get its money?
  • How have government revenues changed over time?
  • How do UK tax revenues compare internationally?