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Written question asked by Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 5 September 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 September 2025 (named day). It was answered by Dan Tomlinson (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 September 2025 on behalf of the Treasury.

Taxation: Rebates

Question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to reduce the time HMRC takes to process tax repayment claims.

Answer

HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible.

HMRC balance the provision of prompt payments to eligible customers with effective revenue protection from fraudsters.

For Self Assessment repayments, once the repayment is created it goes through automated fraud and compliance checks. In 2024-25, after these checks, 93.1% of the repayments were paid automatically within a few days.

HMRC continues to invest in automation and to review their internal processes to ensure repayments are issued as quickly as possible.

HMRC recognise too the importance of keeping the customer, and where appropriate the customer’s representative informed of progress, and are exploring ways of doing that more effectively.

In the meantime, HMRC’s online ‘Where’s My Reply’ tool can help customers understand when they can expect to receive a response.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
75518
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Rebates Standards Revenue and Customs Taxation
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk