Costs of compliance with HMRC statistical surveys April 2023 to March 2024
Published 25 September 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-survey-compliance-cost-report-2023-to-2024/costs-of-compliance-with-hmrc-statistical-surveys-april-2023-to-march-2024
Summary
This publication reports on the estimated cost incurred by businesses and local authorities in complying with the statistical surveys conducted by HMRC during the financial year April 2023 to March 2024.
This is the final time we will be releasing this report. Further information on this decision is available in the Future releases section.
Users must refer to the accompanying explanatory notes.
The cost for businesses complying with HMRC’s statistical surveys for April 2023 to March 2024 was £651,000. This was an increase of 16% compared with the April 2022 to March 2023 figure of £561,000.
This was driven by a 6% increase in Intrastat returns following a large decrease in previous years, linked to the move to customs declarations for goods traded between the European Union (EU) and Great Britain (GB). This removed the need for many businesses to complete Intrastat survey declarations therefore reducing the burden on businesses for statistical information since January 2022.
The Intrastat survey continues to be used to collect information on movements between Northern Ireland and the EU, this accounted for almost the entirety of compliance costs for the period 2023 to 2024. The residual value was from the Ancillary Cost Survey (ACS). The ACS was discontinued in December 2023, due to underlying methodology changes.
Table 1: HMRC’s survey compliance costs
| Year | Number of surveys | Compliance costs (£ thousands) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 to 2023 | 2 | 561 |
| 2023 to 2024 | 2 | 651 |
Download HMRC’s survey compliance costs 2023 to 2024 summary (ODS 9.51 KB)
Source: UK overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Intrastat survey
Total Intrastat responses in 2023 to 2024 were up 6% on the previous year.
There was a 7% increase in the estimated hourly wage rate for completing Intrastat. The rate was £21.27 in 2023 to 2024 compared with £19.91 in 2022 to 2023, as derived from the (provisional) 2023 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) rates.
Table 2: Intrastat compliance costs
| Year | 2022 to 2023 | 2023 to 2024 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of responses (monthly) | 2,456 | 2,614 | 6.4 |
| Estimated hourly rate (£) | 19.91 | 21.27 | 6.8 |
| Total cost (£ thousands) | 560 | 651 | 16.2 |
Download Intrastat compliance costs 2023 to 2024 summary (ODS 9.79 KB)
Source: UK overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Ancillary Cost Survey
Total Ancillary Cost Survey (ACS) responses in 2023 to 2024 were down 57% on the previous year. This was driven by a combination of factors, including:
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ongoing compulsory administrative obligations to businesses after leaving the EU, giving voluntary requests for information a lower priority
-
the ACS being discontinued in December 2023
There was a 4.4% increase in the estimated hourly wage rate for completing ACS (£16.53 in 2023 to 2024 compared with £15.84 in 2022 to 2023).
Table 3: Ancillary Cost Survey costs
| Year | 2022 to 2023 | 2023 to 2024 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of responses (total) | 23 | 10 | -56.5 | |
| Estimated hourly rate (£) | 15.84 | 16.53 | 4.4 | |
| Total cost (£ thousands) | 0.18 | 0.08 | -54.6 |
Download Ancillary Cost Survey costs 2023 to 2024 (ODS 9.7 KB)
Source: UK overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
HMRC’s total survey compliance costs
Total survey compliance cost in 2023 to 2024 was up 16% on the previous year.
Table 4: HMRC’s total survey compliance costs (£ thousands)
| Year | 2022 to 2023 | 2023 to 2024 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intrastat | 560 | 651 | 16.2 |
| ACS | 0.18 | 0.08 | -54.6 |
| Total | 561 | 651 | 16.2 |
Download HMRC’s total survey compliance costs 2023 to 2024 (ODS 9.57 KB)
Source: UK overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Future releases
Since the UK’s exit from the EU, the total costs to data providers to comply with HMRC’s statistical surveys have decreased considerably as shown by the figures in this release, and the corresponding releases relating to previous years.
The reasons for this are:
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the reduction in the number of businesses required to submit Intrastat declarations
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the discontinuation of the Ancillary Costs Survey from December 2023, following the introduction of innovative analysis and more robust methodologies to provide the data required for the compilation of UK overseas trade in goods statistics
Therefore, this April 2023 to March 2024 publication will be the last release in this series that HMRC produces. If you have any queries or concerns, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.
Next release: not applicable.
If using specific statistics contained in this release, please check the information relates to the latest published figures.