HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is the UKs tax, payments, and customs authority. It is a non-ministerial department of the UK government responsible for collecting taxes, paying some forms of state support, administering other regulatory regimes, and enforcing the payment of minimum wage by employers. HMRC was formed in 2005 following the merger of the Inland Revenue and the Board of Customs and Excise, which were the agencies that formerly handled internal taxes and customs collection.
HMRCs responsibilities include:
- Collecting all direct and indirect taxes in the UK, including income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, value-added tax (VAT), excise duties, stamp duty land tax, air passenger duty, and the climate change levy.
- Administering certain benefits and tax credit payments to UK residents, such as tax credits, Child Benefit, and statutory payments like statutory sick pay and statutory maternity pay.
- Enforcing the payment of minimum wage by employers and the recovery of Student Loan repayments.
- Investigating Serious Organised Fiscal Crime, including tobacco, alcohol, and oils smuggling.
HMRC is also responsible for facilitating legitimate international trade, protecting the UKs fiscal, economic, social, and physical security before and at the border, and collecting UK trade statistics. It is a high volume business, with almost every UK individual and business being a direct customer of HMRC.
HMRCs strategic objectives are to collect the right tax and pay out the right financial support, make it easy to get tax right and hard to bend or break the rules, maintain taxpayers consent through fair treatment and protect society from harm, make HMRC a great place to work, and support wider government economic aims through a resilient, agile tax administration system.
The HMRC Charter explains what UK residents can expect from HMRC and what HMRC expects from them. HMRC is headquartered in Westminster, London, and has over 66,000 employees across the country.
