Welsh Rates of Income Tax annual report 2025
Published 11 September 2025
Applies to Wales
© Crown copyright 2025
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1. Key messages
The latest (2023) third-party data assurance exercise found that HMRC’s residency information is between 98 to 99% accurate. HMRC will re-run the exercise in 2025.
The majority of employers operate C tax codes correctly. However, a minority of employers (between 2 to 3%) omit the ‘C’ prefix and operate a UK tax code instead.
The total amount of Non-Savings Non-Dividend Income Tax paid by Welsh taxpayers in 2023 to 2024 was £6.9 billion, an increase of 14.1% compared to 2022 to 2023.
The final outturn of Welsh Rates of Income Tax (WRIT) in 2023 to 2024 was £2 billion, an increase of 13.4% compared to 2022 to 2023.
There were approximately 1,584,200 Welsh taxpayers who contributed towards this by having some net Income Tax liability on their Non-Savings Non-Dividend income, an increase of 6.1% compared to 2022 to 2023.
2. Purpose
The Government of Wales Act 2006 enables the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) to set a Welsh basic, higher, and additional rate of Income Tax to apply to the non-savings and non-dividend income of Welsh taxpayers. This power was first used in respect of the 2019 to 2020 tax year, and the rates continued to remain the same as the UK rates for the 2024 to 2025 tax year.
Welsh Rates of Income Tax (WRIT) works by reducing the UK Income Tax rates by 10p in £1. WRIT is charged on top of these reduced rates, and can be lower, higher or the same as the UK rates.
The Income Tax Personal Allowance remains reserved to the UK Parliament.
Welsh Rates of Income Tax in 2024 to 2025
| Bands | Rates | Taxable income |
|---|---|---|
| Basic rate | 20% | £12,571 - £50,270 |
| Higher rate | 40% | £50,271 - £125,140 |
| Additional rate | 45% | £125,141+ |
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) administers WRIT through existing Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) and Self Assessment processes, including through existing approaches to Income Tax compliance and communications. This ensures the correct amount of tax is collected, and in the vast majority of cases Welsh taxpayers will notice no difference in how HMRC interacts with them.
This report sets out information about HMRC’s administration of WRIT covering:
- identification and assurance of Welsh taxpayers
- compliance activity
- the collection of and accounting for WRIT revenues
- data for WRIT rate setting and forecasting
- customer service and support
- governance and oversight of WRIT
- the costs of delivering WRIT and recharging of these costs to the Welsh Government
3. Identification and assurance
Who is a Welsh taxpayer?
For most people, whether they are a Welsh taxpayer in a given tax year is straightforward. Individuals who live in Wales and have their sole or main place of residence there, are Welsh taxpayers. Those whose sole or main place of residence is located elsewhere in the UK are not Welsh taxpayers.
If a person has more than one place of residence, their main place or places of residence determines where they pay Income Tax. If a person has 2 or more ‘main places of residence’ in different parts of the UK, they will be a Welsh taxpayer if their main place of residence was in Wales for more of the year than any other part of the UK.
Members of the Senedd who represent constituencies in Wales are also Welsh taxpayers, regardless of their residency. As they are not subject to the normal residency rules, we operate a separate process to ensure they have the correct residency status applied on our system.
Identification and assurance work
The National Audit Office’s (NAO) report on the Administration of WRIT highlights, in paragraph 12 of the Key Findings, that identifying Welsh taxpayers is the key challenge of HMRC’s administration of WRIT in 2023 to 2024. There is no definitive data set of Welsh residents against which to judge success, but we are confident in our identification of Welsh taxpayers as detailed below.
HMRC has built a new longitudinal dataset covering the incomes and location of UK taxpayers over a 12-year period from tax year ending 2010 to tax year ending 2022. The Welsh population is not static, and the dataset is used to look at trends on the number of individuals moving to/from Wales and rest of UK (England, Northern Ireland and Scotland).
The analysis showed that Wales exhibited a similar trend in net migration to Scotland, with numbers fluctuating between -300 and +1,500 up to tax year ending 2017. Net migration to Wales then increased steadily from tax year ending 2017 due to an increase in numbers of taxpayers moving from the rest of the UK to Wales. Figures from the dataset suggest that in 2021 to 2022, an estimated 70,000 taxpayers moved across the border. About 40,000 of these moved from the rest of UK to Wales and about 30,000 in the other direction. The number of individuals moving will not be the same every year.
Identifying Welsh taxpayers is an on-going process, and we work closely with the Welsh Government to ensure this remains robust.
Third-party data assurance exercise
HMRC engages an external supplier to carry out a third-party data assurance exercise. This compares data held by HMRC with that from the third-party to assess the accuracy of HMRC’s address data with respect to the identification of Welsh taxpayers. Under our current arrangements with the Welsh Government, we conduct the data assurance exercise every 2 years. The latest report is available in Annex A, Third-Party Data Assurance Exercise 2023.
Data updates
Postcodes and the properties within them, occasionally change to reflect new build properties and subdivision of existing properties. HMRC receives quarterly postcode updates from the Office of National Statistics and updates its processes for flagging Welsh residency to ensure ongoing accuracy of HMRC’s record of postcodes and their residency statuses.
| Quarter | Number of new postcodes |
|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | 158 |
| Quarter 2 | 115 |
| Quarter 3 | 120 |
| Quarter 4 | 125 |
| Full year | 518 |
Postcode scans
HMRC conducts scans to identify any data quality issues and make corrections. There will always be the need to assure the quality of the data we receive, and this is not an issue specific to WRIT. Our address data comes from a variety of sources, including individuals, employers, and other government departments. There are no issues with the vast majority of the address data recorded on our systems, however a small minority requires correcting.
HMRC relies on data from external sources to complete our records. We have a program of work in place to ensure that any data issues for Welsh taxpayer records are identified and corrected, preventing any loss of revenue to the Welsh Government.
The scan to assure the quality of our address data operates in 2 parts:
- identification of taxpayer records with a Welsh postcode prefix but where the postcode is not recorded on HMRC’s list of live and deleted Welsh postcodes
- identification of taxpayer records with a blank postcode but which has a key word in the body of the address that indicates it is a Welsh postcode, for example, Cardiff
Results of the scan in 2024 to 2025
| Type of error | Employment and pension | Change from 2023 to 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid postcode | 499 | +21% |
| Blank postcode | 210 | -46% |
Although there has been a small increase in the number of invalid postcodes, this remains a very small percentage of Welsh postcodes. This is in comparison to the number of Welsh taxpayers which totalled to 1,584,200 in the 2023 to 2024 tax year, all of whom will have a postcode. HMRC monitors trends in this data and keeps its approach to data assurance under review.
HMRC corrected all address records with invalid and blank postcodes where an individual had an employment or pension income. This ensures that the Welsh Government does not lose any tax as a result of data quality issues.
Communications
Communication is crucial to our efforts to accurately identify Welsh taxpayers. HMRC has continued to use the extensive existing communication channels to reinforce key messages on WRIT to employers and individuals. Communications to individuals have been through channels including online social media, the Personal Tax Account, and the Annual Tax Summaries. These communications have focused on the need for customers to update their address details with HMRC when they move.
HMRC’s communications with employers have been through channels including the Employer Bulletin, Agent Update, Customer Compliance Managers’ engagement with large businesses and public bodies, forums for employers, payroll managers and agents, GOV.UK, and online social media. These communications have focused on reminding employers of the importance of them correctly applying the ‘C’ codes issued to them by HMRC.
Employers’ application of Welsh tax codes
When HMRC identifies an individual in PAYE as a Welsh taxpayer, a tax code is issued to their employer for them to operate. All tax codes for Welsh taxpayers have a ‘C’ prefix. The vast majority of employers operate the codes issued to them. However, a small minority make errors and operate codes without the ‘C’ prefix.
Individuals affected by these errors are still identified as Welsh taxpayers by HMRC, and the correct amount of tax is paid to the Welsh Government. There is therefore no loss of revenue to the Welsh Government, as we use our identification to calculate the WRIT outturn. As Welsh and rest of UK rates currently are the same, no one pays the wrong amount of tax as a result of this error. This would change if the rates were to diverge, although end of year reconciliation would ensure that any over- or under-payments were corrected. If rates were to differ, it would be important that codes are correctly applied in year to minimise the under- or overpayments that taxpayers would face at that end of year reconciliation.
HMRC supports employers to correctly apply the Welsh codes issued to them. We carry out regular scans to monitor the proportion of employments that are missing the ‘C’ prefix.
Employments missing the ‘C’ prefix
| Month | % of employments missing the ‘C’ prefix in 2024-25 | % of employments missing the ‘C’ prefix in 2023-24 | % of employments missing the ‘C’ prefix in 2022-23 | % of employments missing the ‘C’ prefix in 2021-22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | 2.34% | 2.27% | 2.27% | 2.59% |
| July | Data unavailable | 2.61% | 2.56% | 2.02% |
| October | Data unavailable | 2.49% | 2.44% | 2.11% |
| January | Data unavailable | 2.48% | 2.36% | 2.32% |
Data for July 2024, October 2024 and January 2025 is unavailable. This scan was decommissioned in May 2025. The Chief Digital Information Office department is building a new report.
The issue of employers not applying the codes issued to them by HMRC is much broader than WRIT and may reflect wider challenges employers are facing in operating PAYE. In many cases, an employer failing to apply ‘C’ codes arises from a software error or missing update.
Our approach to tackling missing ‘C’ prefixes therefore focuses on reminding, educating, and supporting employers to correctly apply the codes issued to them. Where this is not happening, we reissue codes to employers to notify them of the error and, where possible in cases where employers are continually getting this wrong, we contact the employer to understand why and help them to get it right.
This approach has successfully reduced the error rate for employments missing the ‘C’ prefix from around 10% in 2019 to 2020 to around 2.34% in April 2024. We will continue to work with the Welsh Government and employers to maintain the error rate at a low level.
4. Compliance
Compliance checks into tax affairs of Welsh taxpayers
HMRC applies risk-based compliance activity to the collection of WRIT in the same way as is applied to the collection of Income Tax from taxpayers in the rest of the UK. The Welsh Government is not recharged for this activity.
HMRC looks at compliance risks over multiple years in order to take the most appropriate compliance action.
WRIT remains aligned with England and Northern Ireland so there is currently no differential that might drive a risk of behavioural change in Welsh taxpayers.
Address assurance
For all individuals, whether in Self Assessment or PAYE, HMRC monitors cross-border migration trends through comparison of the customer base, analysis of tax returns and changes to tax accounts to identify possible evidence of customer behavioural response.
HMRC also validates the accuracy of reported moves and the completeness of its address data. HMRC will continue communications activity to customers, reinforcing the need to update address details with HMRC when they move.
Building insight
There is no differential between WRIT and UK rates, so HMRC does not expect to see behaviour change related to WRIT. HMRC continues to undertake compliance activity into Welsh taxpayers for areas other than WRIT, and if that work shows any trends in behaviour that could also be relevant to WRIT compliance that will be considered in future periods.
Wealthy individuals
HMRC continues to use its existing Customer Compliance Manager model and other interactions with wealthy customers to raise awareness, educate customers about their WRIT obligations and assess compliance risk related to misrepresentation of Welsh taxpayer status or understatement of income liable to WRIT.
Timing
In addition to the Real Time Information Reviews carried out in-year, the end of year PAYE reconciliation programme checks the tax deducted against the tax due for all customers. Any underpayments are collected from the customer, usually through an adjustment to the subsequent year’s PAYE code, and any overpayments are refunded.
Self-employed customers are on an annual return cycle and Self Assessment returns for 2023 to 2024 tax year were not required to be submitted until January 2025. Compliance checks on 2023 to 2024 returns would therefore generally commence in 2025, although enquiries may be opened earlier for returns submitted before the deadline.
The majority of enquiries into 2023 to 2024 returns do not, however, begin immediately after the submission of returns as assessments of risk must take place first.
5. WRIT revenues, rate setting and forecasting
HMRC collects WRIT through the PAYE and Self Assessment systems. It pays WRIT revenues into the UK Consolidated Fund and these revenues are subsequently transferred to the Welsh Government and the Welsh Government’s resource block grant is reduced accordingly, reflecting its revenue-raising powers.
In July 2025 HMRC released a statistical publication, WRIT Outturn Statistics 2023 to 2024, which included the information shown in the HMRC accounts and further breakdowns of WRIT and equivalent information for taxpayers in the rest of the UK. The outturn is calculated following the submission deadline for Self Assessment returns, meaning there is a delay between the end of the tax year and the publication of the outturn for that year. The 2024 to 2025 outturn will not be published until 2026.
WRIT outturn 2023 to 2024
For 2023 to 2024, the total amount of Income Tax revenue from Welsh taxpayers was £6.9 billion, including WRIT revenue of £3 billion attributable to the Welsh Government budget.
The first table below shows the total revenue from Income Tax on Non-Saving/Non-Dividend (NSND) income for Welsh taxpayers and for rest of UK (rUK, representing English and Northern Irish) taxpayers in 2023 to 2024.
The second table below shows the WRIT revenue attributable to the Welsh Government budget from Income Tax on NSND income for Welsh taxpayers and comparable rest of UK taxpayers in 2023 to 2024 (for example 10p at the basic rate, 10p at the higher rate, and 10p at the additional rate). The tables also show the components of the figures.
2023 to 2024 Total Income Tax Revenue from NSND Income of Welsh and non-Welsh Taxpayers
| Revenue | Welsh NSND (£billion) | rUK NSND (£billion) | Welsh share of total UK NSND |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self Assessment established liability | 2.260 | 122.474 | 1.7% |
| PAYE established liability | 4.716 | 103.855 | 4.0% |
| Estimated further liability: late tax returns and compliance yield | 0.135 | 6.202 | 2.0% |
| Less: adjustment for uncollectable amounts | (0.037) | (1.402) | 2.4% |
| Relief at Source | (0.102) | (2.595) | 3.5% |
| Gift Aid | (0.066) | (1.416) | 4.1% |
| Final revenue for tax year 2023 to 2024 | 6.905 | 227.119 | 2.7% |
2023 to 2024 WRIT and comparable rUK NSND Income Tax
| Revenue | Welsh NSND (£billion) | rUK NSND (£billion) |
|---|---|---|
| Self Assessment established liability | 0.823 | 36.999 |
| PAYE established liability and PAYE Settlement Agreements | 2.194 | 46.256 |
| Estimated further liability | 0.053 | 2.015 |
| Less: adjustment for uncollectable amounts | 0.017 | 0.602 |
| Relief at Source | 0.051 | 1.298 |
| Gift Aid | 0.033 | 0.708 |
| Final Revenue for the tax year 2023 to 2024 | 2.968 | 82.662 |
The time lag in confirming the actual WRIT outturn amount for 2023 to 2024 is due to the PAYE and Self Assessment processes.
To administer PAYE for taxpayers, HMRC undertakes an end of year reconciliation to assess whether individuals have paid too much or too little tax in any given tax year. Similarly, taxpayers are not required to submit online Self Assessment returns to HMRC until 10 months after the end of the tax year to which they relate.
Data for WRIT rate setting and forecasting
HMRC has worked closely with the Welsh Government to develop an agreed work plan. This details the analysis and data that HMRC will provide to the Welsh Government to support them in their analytical work. Officials meet regularly to ensure new priorities are discussed and factored in against existing commitments. As part of this, both parties have agreed what new information would be useful to help provide more understanding of the WRIT outturn.
HMRC provides the Welsh Government with relevant data for WRIT. At a UK level, these tasks are fulfilled using the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI).
The SPI is compiled to provide a quantified evidence base from which to cost proposed changes to tax rates, personal allowances and other tax reliefs for Treasury Ministers. It is used to inform policy decisions within HMRC and HM Treasury, as well as for tax modelling and forecasting purposes.
The SPI is based on information held by HMRC on individuals who could be liable to UK tax. It is carried out annually by HMRC and covers income assessable to tax for each tax year. Not all of the individuals are taxpayers because the operation of personal reliefs and allowances may remove them from liability. Where income exceeds the threshold for operation of PAYE, the survey provides the most comprehensive and accurate official source of data on personal incomes.
HMRC provides the Welsh Government with an updated copy of the SPI data set annually. This copy was identical to that used, for similar purposes, at a UK level, with the exception of some minor aggregation of taxpayer data at the highest income levels to avoid potential breaches of taxpayer confidentiality. HMRC continues to work with the Welsh Government and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to ensure the information provided meets their requirements and supports forecasting and rate setting for Wales.
From 2019 to 2020, with the introduction of WRIT, there has been a reduction in the Welsh Government’s resource block grant. This is equivalent to 10 percentage points from each tax rate of non-savings non-dividend Income Tax generated from Welsh taxpayers, uplifted using the mechanism set out in the fiscal framework agreed between the UK and Welsh Government in December 2016.
Each year, both the tax receipts generated and the block grant deduction will initially be based on a forecast and then reconciled to actual receipts collected which will become known around 15 months after the end of the financial year in question.
HMRC must provide the Welsh Government with sufficient data to discharge its duties in respect of cash management linked to any change between forecast and collected amounts of WRIT. To fulfil this requirement HMRC have agreed with the Welsh Government to provide WRIT figures from the Real Time Information (RTI) data received from employers. This is the best indication of trends in Income Tax liabilities available in real time but is not a complete picture of Income Tax liabilities because it excludes tax paid through Self Assessment (and some adjustments made to PAYE liabilities) after the end of the tax year.
HMRC works closely with the Welsh Government to ensure we provide them with the required analysis. HMRC delivered a variety of analytical outputs on WRIT for the Welsh Government since last year’s annual report, including:
- publishing WRIT and rUK outturn for 2023 to 2024
- producing forecasts of WRIT and rUK Income Tax for the OBR at Autumn 2024 and Spring 2025
- evaluating December 2021 and March 2022 forecasts for 2022 to 2023 WRIT for the OBR, feeding into the March 2025 Devolved Tax and Spending Forecasts and Welsh Taxes Outlook 2024
- producing the Provisional Estimate for 2024 to 2025 WRIT for HMRC’s annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025
- sharing Income Distribution Analysis for the 2023 to 2024 WRIT outturn
- delivering monthly Real Time Information data on PAYE taxpayers
- updating the Welsh Government’s WRIT ‘ready reckoner’ with the latest outturn data and OBR macroeconomic forecasts
- analysis of Sole Traders and Partnerships in Wales and rUK for 2022 to 2023
- sharing the Public Use Tape (PUT) version of the 2022 to 2023 Survey of Personal Incomes
6. Customer service and support
HMRC applies the same level of customer service, support and transparency to Welsh taxpayers as is applied to Income Taxpayers in the rest of the UK.
HMRC administers WRIT as part of the UK Income Tax system. In the vast majority of circumstances Welsh taxpayers will therefore notice no difference in the way HMRC interacts with them. This approach also ensures that the correct amount of tax is collected.
WRIT is collected through existing PAYE and Self Assessment processes, which have been adapted to reflect WRIT rates. Welsh taxpayers can use HMRC’s usual guidance and customer contact channels for advice and information.
In the majority of areas customer service provided to Welsh taxpayers will therefore be included and reported within HMRC’s UK-wide customer service reporting.
The customer service and support for Welsh taxpayers, agents and employers that HMRC has incorporated into its existing processes includes the following:
- providing all Welsh taxpayers and their employers with Welsh tax codes prior to the start of the tax year
- annual tax summaries issued to all Welsh taxpayers
- updating online calculators prior to the start of the tax year with the WRIT rates set by the Senedd to ensure they remain accurate for Welsh taxpayers
- guidance for payroll software providers on how to correctly incorporate Welsh rates into their PAYE products for employers
- guidance on how Welsh taxpayer status is decided and what to do if customers feel HMRC has wrongly identified their status
- encouraging customers to update their personal details, focusing on the use of Personal Tax Account
- issuing paper tax tables to digitally exempt employers prior to the start of the tax year reflecting Welsh rates
While most interactions Welsh customers have with HMRC are via existing processes, and the customer service therefore reported within UK figures, some aspects of customer service are specific to WRIT. For example, guidance on Welsh taxpayer status and ability to discuss with HMRC disagreements over the Welsh residency status given.
It is important that HMRC can demonstrate that its customer service in these areas matches what it provides across the UK as a whole. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) between HMRC and the Welsh Government therefore commits HMRC to collect and report on key, WRIT specific, customer contact metrics. The key metrics for 2024 to 2025 are outlined in Annex C to this report, the Annual Business Intelligence Report.
Welsh language service
HMRC has a well-established Welsh language service that is more than 30 years old and delivered under the 1993 Welsh Language Act. Approximately 40 full-time staff are employed for Welsh language work.
HMRC delivers the majority of its Welsh language services using 2 dedicated teams of Welsh speakers based in Porthmadog and Cardiff. They provide customer service support and translation services, as well as helping other areas of HMRC with Welsh language issues. There is also a designated Welsh speaking senior manager for Welsh language who is based in Cardiff and is the first point of contact for all things Welsh language in HMRC.
Welsh language customer support for WRIT is supported by both teams in various ways. HMRC also offers a Welsh language customer service option from the main Income Tax helpline. HMRC receives around 24,000 calls from Welsh language customers each year across all our customer services.
7. Governance and oversight
Governance arrangements
The governance arrangements in place for HMRC’s administration of WRIT ensure that we are fulfilling our obligations and meeting the needs of the Welsh Government. HMRC’s administration of WRIT is governed jointly by HMRC and the Welsh Government, and we work closely with them to ensure that there is sufficient oversight of our administration of WRIT.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Our SLA with the Welsh Government sets out HMRC’s obligations for administering WRIT, and the performance measures for monitoring this. It ensures a consistent quality of service to Welsh taxpayers and allows HMRC and the Welsh Government to meet their respective responsibilities.
The SLA is reviewed annually by HMRC and the Welsh Government. For the 2024 to 2025 tax year the SLA was updated to include a confidentiality agreement setting out how HMRC will treat sensitive policy information shared by the Welsh Government.
The signatories to the SLA in HMRC and the Welsh Government meet twice a year to review HMRC’s progress in administering WRIT.
WRIT Board
The WRIT Board meets quarterly to review HMRC’s administration of WRIT. It is comprised of representatives from both HMRC and the Welsh Government, drawing its membership from areas across HMRC which have a key role to play in our administration of WRIT. Chairing responsibilities are shared between HMRC and the Welsh Government.
In 2024 to 2025, the WRIT Board discussed a range of matters related to HMRC’s administration of WRIT. This included approving the methodology for calculating the 2023 to 2024 Welsh outturn, approving the costs to be recharged to the Welsh Government, agreeing the proposed changes to the SLA, and reviewing the Compliance Plan for 2024 to 2025.
During the 2024 to 2025 tax year WRIT Board hybrid meetings alternated between London and Cardiff.
Devolved Analytical Working Group
The Devolved Analytical Working Group is comprised of representatives from HMRC, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government, and the OBR, and the Scottish Fiscal Commission.
The working group meets regularly, and discusses, among other things, the methodology HMRC uses to calculate the WRIT outturn, and other analytical work carried out by HMRC for the Welsh and Scottish Governments.
Financial arrangements
Under the Fiscal Framework Agreement between the UK and Welsh Government, the Welsh Government reimburses HMRC for net additional costs wholly and necessarily incurred as a result of the implementation and administration of WRIT.
HMRC has a robust process in place to ensure that we accurately identify the costs of administering WRIT. We ensure we provide the Welsh Government with sufficient evidence to allow the Welsh Government to assure itself of the accuracy of the costs to be recharged.
As part of this process, we have a Rechargeable Costs Framework to set out our approach to and obligations for recharging costs to the Welsh Government. This is annexed to the SLA and is reviewed annually.
We provide the Welsh Government with a report each month to ensure they have a timely view of the costs to be recharged, which happens on a quarterly basis. An invoice is only raised once the WRIT Board is satisfied that the costs are accurate.
In 2024 to 2025, the costs recharged to the Welsh Government by HMRC for the administration of WRIT were:
Costs HMRC recharged to the Welsh Government for WRIT administration in 2024 to 2025
| Quarter (£ million) | Implementation and operating costs |
|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | 0.08 |
| Quarter 2 | 0.08 |
| Quarter 3 | 0.13 |
| Quarter 4 | 0.08 |
| Full year | 0.47 |
HMRC recharges both the costs of implementing and the costs of operating WRIT. Implementation costs were the initial costs of setting up HMRC’s administration of WRIT, whilst operating costs are the day-to-day costs of this administration.
The charts below show the historic costs of implementing and operating WRIT that have been recharged to the Welsh Government, and how implementation costs have, over time, reduced. If the Welsh Government were to make further changes to WRIT, there would likely be further implementation costs.
Costs of implementing and operating WRIT recharged to the Welsh Government in previous years
| Cost | 2024-25 (£million) | 2023-24 (£million) | 2022-23 (£million) | 2021-22 (£million) | 2020-21 (£million) | 2019-20 (£million) | 2018-19 (£million) | 2017-18 (£million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Implementation costs | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | 0.19 | 1.77 | 5.44 | 0.29 |
| Operating costs | 0.47 | 0.43 | 0.42 | 0.44 | 0.53 | 0.23 | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Total cost of WRIT invoiced in financial year | 0.47 | 0.43 | 0.42 | 0.44 | 0.72 | 1.60 | 5.80 | 0.34 |
Note: For ‘total cost of WRIT invoiced in financial year’, figures shown may not be an exact sum of implementation and operating costs due to invoicing schedules.
External scrutiny
In addition to the internal governance structure agreed by HMRC and the Welsh Government, HMRC’s administration of WRIT is also overseen by several external bodies.
The National Audit Office
The NAO audits HMRC’s administration of WRIT annually. In January 2025, the NAO published its report into HMRC’s performance in 2023 to 2024. Paragraph 11 of the Key Findings reported that ‘HMRC has adequate rules and procedures in place to ensure the proper assessment and collection of WRIT and it is complying with those rules.’
The NAO did not make any recommendations for improvement, and their positive assessment of HMRC’s administration of WRIT provides us with assurance that we are fulfilling our obligations and maintaining a high level of service to both the Welsh Government and Welsh taxpayers.
The NAO’s report into HMRC’s administration of WRIT in 2024 to 2025 is expected to be published in January 2026.
The Senedd
HMRC administers WRIT on behalf of the Welsh Government, and as such is also accountable to the Senedd for our performance in doing so. As part of the implementation of WRIT, HMRC appointed an Additional Accounting Officer, who is available to give evidence to committees of the Senedd. The current Additional Accounting Officer is Jonathan Athow, Director General for Customer Strategy and Tax Design.
8. Forward Look 2025 to 2026
Welsh Income Tax Powers Review
In March 2025, the Welsh Government announced they were commissioning an external review of Welsh Income Tax powers. HMRC will continue to support Welsh Government if there are any changes to the direction of WRIT. If WRIT rates diverge from the UK rates, HMRC will discuss compliance approaches with the Welsh Government.
Annex A: Third-Party Data Assurance Exercise 2023
Outcome of the Third-Party Data Clash matching exercise
Table 1a: GB Group unmatched records removed by KAI
| GB Group unmatched records | Number removed by KAI |
|---|---|
| Duplicates | 2,540 |
| Deceased | 2,143 |
| Under 18 | 59,149 |
| Resident abroad | 7,532 |
Table 1b: GB Group unmatched records matched by KAI
| GB Group unmatched records | Number matched by KAI |
|---|---|
| Matched to Wales | 594,156 |
| Matched to rUK | 10,779 |
| Unmatched | 107,826 |
Table 1c: GB Group unmatched records totals matched by GBG and KAI and percentage adjusted totals
| GB Group unmatched records | Total matched by GBG and KAI | % adjusted total |
|---|---|---|
| Matched to Wales | 2,835,760 | 95.84% |
| Matched to rUK | 15,396 | 0.52% |
| Unmatched | 107,826 | 3.64% |
Methodology
Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence (KAI) sent GB Group approximately 88 million records sourced from CID (Citizen Identification Framework), as part of assurance of HMRC address data.
In order to provide assurance of HMRC address data, GB Group performed a matching exercise of the CID records against third party data sources, e.g., the electoral register and credit records.
Following the completion of this exercise, GB Group sent KAI reports outlining the number of records successfully matched to a country, the number of contradictory address records (by country) and the number of records that are not matched to any address in third party data.
Alongside this report, GB Group sent KAI a list of NINOs (National Insurance numbers) and TRNs (Temporary Reference numbers)[1] that did not match to a third-party source.
KAI seek to corroborate these records and identify their most recent address/country information in HMRC tax data. This is performed by:
- removing duplicate NINOs and TRNs from the initial list
- matching the records to a number of HMRC systems i.e., CESA/NPS and RTI to identify: deceased individuals, individuals under 18 (at the time the GB Group matching exercise was performed) and individuals residing abroad
- records which are identified as deceased, under 18 or residing abroad are removed from the initial unmatched list
- remaining records that match to HMRC systems are assigned to a region/country based upon a valid postcode and the corresponding GOR (region)/ITL2 region associated with the postcode. This is obtained by matching extracted postcodes to a postcode lookup table for GOR Codes and assigning a corresponding Income Tax Regime region based on the first letter of this variable
Results for GB Group matching exercise
Of 3,030,346 Welsh records:
- 2,241,604 (73.97%) records were matched to a Welsh address that had a Welsh address in CID
- 4,617 (0.15%) records were matched to an rUK address but had a Welsh address in CID
- 784,125 (25.88%) Welsh records were not matched to any address
For cases b), a letter was sent to the individual asking them to update their address data.
GB Group also found 6,128 records in the CID data with an rUK address but matched to a Welsh address in the third-party data. These individuals were also sent a letter asking them to update their address.
Results for KAI matching exercise
As outlined, KAI matched the 784,125 uncorroborated records to HMRC systems and:
- removed 2,540 duplicate NINOs/TRNs from the initial list
- removed 59,149 records where the individual was under the age of 18 when the data clash was carried out (38 were under 16, 29,858 were 16 and 29,253 were 17)
- removed 7,532 records where the individual was identified as residing abroad
- removed 2,143 records where the individual was identified as deceased
- identified 594,156 records where the individual had a Welsh GOR Code (83.36% of the initial, adjusted unmatched list)
- identified 15,396 records where the individual had an rUK GOR Code
We were unable to corroborate 107,826 records. Of these:
- 103,569 (96.05%) were TRNs which is 3.50% of the adjusted list of 2,835,760 Welsh records sent to GB Group (with duplicates, deceased, under 18 and overseas cases excluded)
- 4,257 (3.95%) were NINOs
See table 1 for further detail.
Conclusion
After the completion of both KAI’s and GB Groups’ components of this third-party matching exercise, it is shown that HMRC’s taxpayer status was correct in 95.84% of cases (when duplicates, deceased and overseas cases are excluded). However, when considering cases where a match was made, 2,835,760 out of 2,851,156 cases were matched as Welsh (99.46% of the adjusted total).
Therefore, across the two stages, only 0.54% of these records were identified as residing in rUK when CID provided a Welsh address. And just 107,826 (3.64%) of the total list in CID remain uncorroborated, with most (96.05%) of these being TRNs.
When considering this figure in the context of the overall accuracy of HMRC’s identification of Welsh taxpayers it is important to bear in mind that this population does not correspond to distinct, active Welsh taxpayers in any single given year. It represents records (as opposed to individuals) held in HMRC’s CID data, which could be historic accounts that are no longer active; or TRNs which belonged to individuals that have subsequently been allocated a NINO. So, an uncorroborated taxpayer status doesn’t mean an incorrect taxpayer status.
We are therefore confident that the proportion of correctly identified Welsh cases in HMRC’s will likely be around 98%-99% when we only consider records which are currently active in Self Assessment or RTI. The uncorroborated cases are likely to be in respect of ceased or inactive accounts which explains why KAI have been unable to identify them in either the Self Assessment or RTI data. There may also be some cases where postcode information has been incorrectly input, or an expired postcode has been input meaning that a GOR Code cannot be allocated to the record. Therefore, there is no risk to WRIT of failing to corroborate these records as Welsh since there will be no Income Tax liability for them.
This gives confidence that HMRC will have correctly identified around 99% of currently active Welsh taxpayers from our CID data as living in Wales.
Annex B: Annual Business Intelligence Report 2024 to 2025
Customer contact: telephone
HMRC has a WRIT telephone route within the HMRC Personal Tax helpline. This gives customers generic pre-recorded WRIT messages prior to speaking to an HMRC Customer Advisor. These figures do not represent all calls by Welsh taxpayers to HMRC.
Phone calls received and answered
| Total | 2024 to 2025 | 2023 to 2024 | 2022 to 2023 | 2021 to 2022 | 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calls received | 21 | 35 | 87 | 92 | 120 |
| Calls answered | 17 | 23 | 63 | 70 | 83 |
Web pages monitored
HMRC has a number of WRIT-related webpages on GOV.UK and hits to these pages are monitored:
- Income Tax in Wales
- HMRC internal manual: Welsh taxpayer technical guidance
- Tell HMRC about a change in personal details, which is used by customers across the UK
Web hits
| Web page on GOV.UK | Web hits in 2024 to 2025 | Web hits in 2023 to 2024 | Web hits in 2022 to 2023 | Web hits in 2021 to 2022 | Web hits in 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income Tax in Wales | 32,314 | 38,953 | 44,444 | 39,827 | 43,337 |
| Internal manual: Welsh taxpayer guidance | 67 | 75 | 186 | 178 | 283 |
| Tell HMRC about a change to your personal details | 754,848 | 1,072,096 | 1,307,931 | 1,332,067 | 1,530,708 |
[1] A Temporary Reference Number (TRN) is a number that is allocated by HMRC to records that do not have a matched or known National Insurance Number (NINO). TRNs take the format ‘NN LN NN NN’ (two numbers, a letter, five numbers). TRNs are usually replaced when an individual applies for a NINO from DWP. However, a small number of individuals retain a TRN.