Management of tax credits compliance cases

This briefing highlights a number of issues that we have identified with HMRC’s approach to tax credit compliance investigations, particularly those cases where HMRC believe a single claimant is in fact part of a couple and therefore claiming incorrectly. We understand HMRC have a duty to ensure that people receive the right amount of tax credits, and that compliance checks are an important part of that role; but we think significant improvements are needed in the process design and operational delivery of those checks. We recommend that HMRC commission an independent review of the end to end tax credit compliance processes before any further large scale exercises are carried out.