Skip to main content

Written question asked by Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 29 August 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 2 September 2025. It was answered by Dan Tomlinson (Labour) on Monday, 8 September 2025 on behalf of the Treasury.


Companies: VAT

Question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average administrative cost is of collecting VAT from a VAT-registered company.

Answer

HMRC calculate annually the cost to collect £1 of VAT. In 2024-25, it cost 0.58 pence, i.e. less than one penny, to collect £1 of VAT on average. This ratio has been broadly stable over recent years.

Cost of Collection - VAT - 5 year Trend from 2020-2021 to 2024-2025

2020-2021

2021-2022

2022-2023

2023-2024

2024-2025

pence

pence

pence

pence

pence

VAT

0.63

0.52

0.54

0.58

0.58


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
73232
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Companies Tax collection VAT
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk