HMRC Competition to Tackle Deliberate Evasion and Help Close the Tax Gap

The procurement contact named on the official notice.

Closing the tax gap is a key strategic priority for HMRC.

In the 2023 to 2024 tax year, the tax gap is estimated to be 5.3% of total theoretical tax liabilities, or £46.8 billion in absolute terms.

This is driven by a range of customer behaviours from simple error to deliberate evasion.

Identifying deliberate evasion is inherently difficult across a very large population of customers.

By its nature the intent of deliberate evasion is to hide and deceive.

This can lead to sub-optimal targeting of investigations by HMRC which impacts HMRC's ability to close the tax gap and increases the burden on compliant customers.

Being able to identify deliberate evasion accurately at population level will improve HMRC's approach to managing the tax gap and reduce the impact on compliant customers.

This competitive procurement will invite novel and innovative solutions to closing the tax gap within a customer group on the theme of tackling deliberate evasion.

Potential solutions may include (but are not limited to) analytical techniques and data that can help identify indicators of potential evasion in HMRC's risking processes.

However, this is an open competition, and HMRC would like to explore a range of innovative solutions that can contribute to the primary objective of closing the tax gap.

Bidders are encouraged to attend the launch event on Monday 21st July 2025 to learn more about the problem statement.

All relevant information will be included within the tender documentation.