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<p>HMRC, in combination with HM Treasury, the Office of Budget Responsibility, Office
for National Statistics, and other Government departments are already meeting, or
exceeding, areas identified in the 14 guiding principles set by the General Assembly
of the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency for tax transparency, for example:</p><p>
</p><ul><li>HMRC publish an annual report which includes information on the prevailing
tax gap and action taken to reduce it, as well as comprehensive accounts and other
information on revenues, expenditure, performance and performance plans. This is in
addition to separate publications on the measurement of tax gaps and other research
conducted by HMRC on taxpayers’ behaviour and tax administration;</li><li>HMRC’s published
Annual Report and Accounts, as well as other aspects of its performance and expenditure,
are regularly audited by the independent National Audit Office (NAO), and subject
to Parliamentary scrutiny. NAO reports of its audits are also published. Revenue and
other statistics published by HMRC adhere to the Official Statistics Code of Practice
and are also subject to independent audit by the UK’s Statistics Authority;</li><li>The
UK Government and HMRC have increased their own transparency by publishing more data,
including information about the exercise of powers. Government departments also publish
data as part of a cross-Government transparency data publishing requirement, as directed
by several letters from the Prime Minister since 2010;</li><li>The UK Government collaborates
with international and regional financial institutions, contributing to their published
revenue statistics, to improve the fairness, efficiency, and effectiveness of tax
administration, including through the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/tax/forum-on-tax-administration/"
target="_blank">Forum on Tax Administration</a>; and</li><li>The Tax Assurance Commissioner
(TAC) role was created in 2012 to strengthen governance and assurance of tax disputes.
The TAC provides assurance to Parliament and the public on the handling of civil tax
disputes<em>, </em>and their Report is published as part of HMRC’s Annual Report.</li></ul><p>
</p><p>Increasing transparency to improve the public’s trust in the tax system and
Government accountability remains a focus for this administration.</p>
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