- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) marks its 20th anniversary on 18 April 2025.
- Two decades on, the department is harnessing the spirit of then Chancellor Gordon Brown’s bold reforms and embarking on a new era of transformation.
- Supporting the government’s Plan for Change and mission for growth, HMRC is now firmly focused on closing the tax gap, modernising and reforming, and improving customer service.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) marks its 20th anniversary on Friday 18 April 2025.
The department was established in April 2005 through the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, combining tax administrations to reduce overlap and enhance service delivery.
The creation of HMRC by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, marked a significant reform in public administration, bringing together both direct and indirect tax collection under one organisation.
Two decades later, HMRC is at the heart of the government’s Plan for Change, dedicated to providing the best possible tax and customs service that drives economic growth, and makes working people better off.
HMRC enforces the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage to make work pay, putting more money in people’s pockets. And in simplifying life for businesses through cutting red tape and improving digital services, it is helping them to grow the economy.
The new Child Benefit online claim service is also helping put money in new parents’ pockets, more quickly and easily, as well as boosting family finances through HMRC’s delivery of Tax-Free Childcare.
As the government works to deliver economic security and growth for working people, a more effective and digitally focused HMRC will be crucial to delivering a more productive and efficient state.
Key Milestones and Improvements
Over the past two decades, the decision to bring tax and customs together has enabled HMRC to undergo a transformative journey, marked by key milestones that have enhanced its operational efficiency.
Today, nearly every Self Assessment tax return is filed online. The top-rated HMRC app has been downloaded more than 7 million times, and our digital services continue to grow – making it easier for everyone to get their tax right and more difficult for evaders to cheat the system.
The introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT in 2019 has evolved customer interactions with the wider tax system, leading to a substantial increase in online VAT returns. And today, MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment is on the verge of being launched, in a move that will both make life easier for small businesses (sole traders) and tackle non-compliance to help close the tax gap.
HMRC has also reduced the number of its offices from more than 500 two decades ago to just 28 today, as it further reduces its office space in central London. The government is building on this journey of efficiency, as well as reinforcing HMRC’s status as a truly national organisation.
Angela MacDonald, HMRC’s Second Permanent Secretary and Deputy Chief Executive, said:
“For 20 years and for centuries before, HMRC and its predecessor organisations have been an integral part of the UK’s fabric. With the support of our dedicated tax professionals right across the UK, our impact is far reaching. From tackling complex challenges and catching wrongdoers to implementing a nation-defining program like furlough, our work is pivotal. Day in and day out, whether seen or unseen, in the UK and with international co-operation, we collect the money that funds vital public services and provides financial support to those who need it most.”
As HMRC embarks on the next 20 years, the commitment to sustainability and operational efficiency remains a priority. By adopting new technologies, HMRC is focusing on improving customer service and delivery through further system improvements and faster, more user-friendly digital platforms.
HMRC’s journey continues to evolve, benefiting taxpayers, families and the overall efficiency of revenue collection. As HMRC looks to the future, it remains dedicated to providing the best possible tax and customs service, to fully support the UK economy in helping rebuild Britain in a decade of national renewal.
20 things you may not know about HMRC
- Created on 18 April 2005, under the direction of the UK’s longest-serving
modern-day Chancellor, Gordon Brown, HM Queen Elizabeth II
personally approved the new department’s name ‘Her Majesty’s Revenue
and Customs’, known as HM Revenue and Customs. Our name
automatically changed to ‘His Majesty’s’ when the King ascended to the
throne. - More than £10.5 trillion (£10,592,900,000,000) in revenue has been
collected by HMRC since 2005 to support UK public services. This only
includes the UK tax revenue collected from April 2005 to March 2024 (19
years), as our Annual Report (2024-25) will be published in the summer. - The first HMRC Board consisted of nine (9) men and one (1) woman. In
April 2025, the Permanent Secretaries and Executive Committee show a
more even split of eight (8) men and seven (7) women. - HMRC staff were among the first civil servants to start working towards
new operational delivery qualifications recognised across government
and registered by the Qualification and Credit Framework (formerly
known as NVQs). - Our curriculum-linked Tax Facts programme helps children and young
people to learn about the UK tax system before they enter it. Junior Tax
Facts (age 8 to 13) introduces primary and younger secondary school
pupils to the basics of tax. Tax Facts (age 14 to 17) helps teenagers
understand tax in more practical terms. The programme provides lesson
plans for teachers, videos and other resources. Some HMRC colleagues
support schools by running the sessions, in addition to their usual jobs, as Tax
Facts ambassadors. - HMRC has responsibility for enforcing the National Minimum Wage and
National Living Wage, which includes ensuring employers pay their
workers correctly. - In 2007 HMRC published two podcasts and became the first UK
Government department to deliver advice to customers in this format. - Since its launch in December 2017, more than 7 million people have
downloaded the free HMRC app, and accessed their tax information. In
2024 alone there were more than 100 million HMRC app sessions. - HMRC’s online guidance was viewed more than 750 million times, by 20
million different users, during 2023/24 helping them view information at a
time that suits them. - More than 1.2 million parents have claimed their Child Benefit through
the HMRC app or via the digital service, since the service went online in
May 2023. Over 87% of the claims are now digital. Families are
encouraged to claim Child Benefit as soon as they can after their baby is
born, as the claim can only be backdated up to 3 months. - The department’s Fraud Investigation Service was launched in 2016. It
recovered assets worth more than £1 billion from the proceeds of crime
and tax offenders in its first 5 years. This included eight gold bars weighing
around 16 kgs and worth £750,000, seized from a passenger at Manchester
Airport, and £48,000 found in a freezer drawer, hidden among chicken
nuggets at a house in Blackpool. The gold was later auctioned with the
proceeds returning to the public purse. - In 2010 we successfully launched the ‘Connect’ IT system which now
has the capacity to search more than 22 billion records at the touch of a
button, using data from across our tax regimes to help identify fraud and
improve compliance. - Around 1.5 billion suspicious or malicious events are blocked by our
cyber security team every month (2023-24 annual report). - When HMRC was formed in 2005, it operated from more than 500
individual office sites. Today HMRC’s more efficient estate comprises of
28 offices, with the majority of our workforce in 14 regional centres and
our London HQ. - HMRC’s HQ is 100 Parliament Street in central London. It was from a
balcony at this building (then the Ministry of Health) that Prime Minister
Winston Churchill gave his impromptu ‘victory for the cause of freedom’
speech on VE Day (8 May 1945) at the end of the war in Europe in World
War Two. - In the days before laptops and portable computers in our offices,
between 2010 and 2011 HMRC introduced a power saving capability to
almost all workstations which automatically put desktops into an energy
saving ‘sleep mode’ when not in use. This saved almost £500,000 a year in
electricity costs and reduced emissions by almost 3,000 carbon tonnes. - Our Stamp Duty press machines were officially retired from service on
19 July 2021, following changes needed during the COVID-19 pandemic,
bringing to an end more than 300 years of tax-related history. The first
‘stamp duty’ was introduced in 1694 as a temporary measure to fund the war
against France. Over the centuries Stamp Duty was even paid on gloves,
mittens, and playing cards. From July 2021, an electronic process was
adopted for the remaining transactions which still require physical stamps,
such as duty paid on shares purchased on a stock transfer form.
- Items deemed of significant cultural, scientific or historical importance
can be accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax. HMRC works closely with the
Arts Council, National Archives and other organisations to transfer
important assets for the nation:
In 2020/21 HMRC accepted the archive of the late Professor
Stephen Hawking and the contents of his office at the University
of Cambridge. The archive was permanently allocated to the
Cambridge University Library and the contents of his office were
offered permanently to the Science Museum.
In 2022/23 a sectional model of a fighting vessel once owned by
Admiral Nelson was accepted. It is thought to have been made for
him on board HMS Victory and is one of only a handful of similar
models, making it very rare. This was permanently allocated to the
National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. - At the UK border, the new Customs Declaration Service supports import
and export declarations needed to move goods into and out of the UK.
More than 70 million import declarations alone were submitted in 2023 to
2024 using this new service. - HMRC has helped facilitate temporary UK import admissions for
everything from the move of pandas to/from Edinburgh Zoo to
ceremonial items for dignitaries attending state occasions, including HM
Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and HM King Charles III’s Coronation.
We also supported the seamless transition of thousands of items of
sporting equipment arriving in, and later leaving the UK, from all over
the World for the more than 10,500 athletes who competed in the
London 2012 Olympics. We supported the Glasgow 2014 and Birmingham
2022 Commonwealth Games and will do so again when the games returns to
Glasgow in 2026.
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