HMRC publishes ‘Transformation Roadmap’ in key step to modernise services

The main announcements, summarised.

On 21 July 2025, HMRC published its new ‘Transformation Roadmap’ which sets out a series of reforms and priorities for the organisation to improve its customer offer and close the tax gap, following an announcement of around £500 million in the Spending Review to support digital transformation. 

The roadmap consolidates a range of digital transformation initiatives into one comprehensive, public document positioned as a key step to modernise services, improve efficiency, and ultimately simplify interactions.  

This will happen through streamlined procedures, the use of technologies such as AI, digital self-serve options for taxpayers, and other initiatives. Targeted support will remain for the vulnerable and digitally excluded. 

The roadmap signals a willingness to work in partnership with professional bodies to turn its ambitions into practice, and we are looking forward to further dialogue with officials. The document itself is broken down into several sections, and we have outlined the key announcements from each section below.

Improving overall customer experience 

• PAYE taxpayers will benefit from a new service to give them better visibility and control over their tax position, and a dedicated expenses portal for reliefs claims.  

• Self-Assessment customers will benefit from expanded digital services, including for those no longer needing to file.  

• Employed Child Benefit claimants will be able to report payments through their tax code, rather than registering for self-assessment.  

• HMRC says that it’s committed to improving the experience of tax advisers and their clients.

Specific measures to improve experience include:

• Introducing new capabilities to enable agents to digitally withdraw their clients from the Self-Assessment service. 

• Enhancing the income record viewer which will expand the information available on their client’s income. 

• Launching a new service to allow agents to digitally submit information which may impact their client’s tax code. 

• Providing the ability for agents to track the progress of their clients’ submissions and repayments. 

HMRC will begin work to introduce a new customer relationship management system to build more personalised support to customers and their advisers, in addition to AI-driven navigation aids, marketing to boost HMRC app uptake and an improved tax-education offering.  

The public will also benefit from a new GOV UK ‘One Login’ which will begin to be onboarded by the end of 2026/27. 

Closing the tax gap

• HMRC will modernise how it collects and processes data to make it significantly easier to promote compliance.  

• Through investment in its IT estate, HMRC will further close the tax gap, helped by enhanced case management systems to integrate the processing of letters, forms and penalties. 

• The way casework is handled will improve through new risk targeting capabilities, a new automatic document identifier system to help caseworkers identify fraudulent documents, and enhanced AI-powered systems that provide rapid and clear guidance, speeding up casework. 

• A new Digital Disclosure Service to allow customers and intermediaries to correct mistakes and pay liabilities and penalties for all taxes and duties, as well as a new secure digital channel for three-way communications between HMRC, customers and intermediaries. 

• A roadmap setting out HMRC’s approach to software in the tax system will be published by April 2026, and the tax debt strategy will be updated with a roadmap to reduce debt year-on-year by end of 2025. 

• An improved reward scheme for informants will be launched in late 2025, targeting serious noncompliance in large corporations, wealthy individuals, offshore and avoidance schemes.  

The roadmap sets out some specific measures to improve professional standards among tax advisers, which you should be aware of:

• Modernising HMRC’s tax adviser registration services and mandating registration of tax advisers interacting with HMRC from April 2026. 

• Enhancing powers and sanctions for HMRC to act against tax advisers who facilitate taxpayer non-compliance, following a recent consultation. 

• Implementing a requirement for tax advisers to obtain an Advanced Electronic Signature from their clients if they wish to continue to use the nominations process for certain income tax repayments. 

• Working with industry to co-design a standard for customs intermediaries (due in 2026). 

• Publishing guidance to clarify HMRC’s approach to, and role in, preventing and addressing intermediary harm. 

• Exploring next steps on raising standards in the tax advice market, following the summary of consultation responses published in October 2024 (which AAT responded to). 

Reform and modernisation

• HMRC says that by 2030, it will be an agile department supported by a modern IT infrastructure, using innovative technology and AI, and with robust data capabilities and a highly skilled workforce. 

• It will modernise its IT infrastructure, including updating or replacing its IT estate and legacy systems, ensuring HMRC’s systems are better joined up and protected against cyber threats. 

• It will also modernise how customers interact with HMRC, including through the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax Self-Assessment, increasing the use of e-invoicing, and modernising its services for corporation tax. 

HMRC quietly announced that it will not implement MTD for Corporation Tax, and will develop a different approach to its future administration, ensuring that it consults on any future changes. The shift is not surprising given the complexity of the tax makes MTD more difficult to implement, and no timeline has been in place. HMRC remains committed to improving digital services in this space, and we will continue to monitor it. 

AAT’s reaction

AAT welcomes the publication of HMRC’s transformation roadmap, a significant milestone in modernising the UK’s tax system. This roadmap aligns with our members’ needs, promising faster response times, a simpler tax framework, and clearer guidance to support accountants, bookkeepers and entrepreneurs.  

We can finally expect to see much-needed improvements such as more information being pre-populated on tax returns, making National Insurance contribution refunds easier and faster for customers, as well as the digitalisation of the Inheritance Tax. AAT looks forward to collaborating with HMRC to ensure these reforms deliver a practical, stable and effective environment for our members and their clients. 

You see how AAT CEO Sarah Beale MAAT responded on LinkedIn. 

Next steps

We’ll continue to work with HMRC on the practical detail as it turns the roadmap into an reality, including by sharing member feedback with officials as they deliver the plan. We will also support members to adapt to the changes as they are implemented.  

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