Official Statistics

Costs of compliance with HMRC statistical surveys April 2023 to March 2024: explanatory notes

Published 25 September 2024

Background information

The burden of completing government surveys, known as the survey compliance cost, is measured in terms of the costs to businesses and local authorities of completing them.

This publication provides statistics on costs incurred by businesses and local authorities in complying with regular HMRC statistical surveys conducted in the 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 financial years.

Governance

Government departments conducting or commissioning statistical surveys are required to forecast and monitor the burden they impose on businesses and local authorities, and to minimise this where possible. Principle V5.5 of the Code of Practice for Statistics Edition 2.1 (pdf 577 KB) (the Code) states that all producers of all official statistics

…should be transparent in their approach to monitoring and reducing the burden on those providing their information, and on those involved in collecting, recording and supplying data. The burden imposed should be proportionate to the benefits arising from the use of the statistics.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Survey Control Unit is responsible for monitoring survey control procedures across government.

These statistics show the costs incurred by businesses and local authorities in complying with the statistical surveys conducted by HMRC in each financial year.

Up to 2010 to 2011, survey compliance costs were produced according to instructions issued by the Prime Minister’s office and covered all statistical surveys of businesses and local authorities. The change in governance from the Prime Minister’s Instructions (PMIs) to the Code has altered the scope of the surveys covered so that since 2011 to 2012 only surveys that are used to produce official statistics are included in the report.

Taxpayer confidentiality

HMRC has a legal duty to maintain the confidentiality of taxpayer information and disclosing information to persons outside of HMRC is only allowed in a limited number of circumstances. These are set out in Section 18 of the Commissioners of Revenue and Customs Act 2005

User engagement

HMRC is committed to providing impartial quality statistics that meet our users’ needs. We encourage our users to engage with us so that we can improve our official statistics and identify gaps in the statistics that we produce. If you have any comments or questions about these statistics then please contact the responsible statistician directly.

Surveys covered by this publication

This release relates to statistical surveys undertaken by HMRC staff or by consultants on behalf of HMRC staff. The surveys took place wholly or partly during the respective financial year period starting 1 April and ending 31 March the following year. Surveys of individuals, households, HMRC staff and those which are part of HMRC’s normal compliance or assurance procedures, such as making declarations, are not included. 

From 2011 to 2012, implementation of survey control falls under the UK Code of Practice for official statistics. Consistent with the Code, survey controls only cover surveys that are used to produce official statistics. 

Thus, since 2011 to 2012 HMRC has only reported on surveys within the new scope and the figures in Table 1 relate to only two of HMRC’s surveys: the Intrastat Survey and the Ancillary Costs Survey. 

Further information on government statistical surveys is published by the ONS.

Intrastat

All overseas trade in goods statistics were compiled from the information provided on customs declarations until the Single Market was created in 1993. Since customs declarations were no longer required for goods moving between EU member states, the Intrastat system was introduced to collect information on intra-EU movements of goods. This uses a combination of data from the Value Added Tax return together with a more detailed Intrastat declaration from businesses which exceed annually set legal thresholds. The compilation and production of the statistics is governed by EU legislation, which sets the methodology, timescales and quality requirements. 

From 31 December 2020, the free movement of people and goods and services between the UK and the EU ended. This changed the way HMRC collects trade in goods statistics. As a result, businesses were not required to submit Intrastat for exports to the EU, unless the goods were exported from Northern Ireland. However, they were required to submit Customs declarations for these goods. Costs relating to Customs declarations are not included in the calculations in this release as they are deemed administrative sources of data rather than statistical surveys. 

From 31 December 2021, the requirement to submit Customs Declarations was extended to EU imports into GB as well. Therefore for 2022 onwards, the Intrastat survey only covers Northern Ireland imports from the EU and Northern Ireland exports to the EU.

Ancillary Cost Survey

The Ancillary Costs Survey (ACS) allows HMRC to publish EU (Intrastat) trade figures on the same common valuation basis as all other EU member states. 

This basis is the value of the goods plus the cost of movement to the border of the member state that publishes the statistics i.e. the Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) delivery terms value for arrivals and the Free on Board (FOB) delivery terms value for dispatches. The value of the trade under this common basis is called the statistical value. By conducting the ACS, we have avoided the need for all businesses to provide adjusted values on each line of trade on their supplementary declarations, thus reducing the burden on the business.

The ACS was discontinued in 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.

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings rates

These are used to calculate the staff costs when completing the surveys. 

The Office for National Statistics publish the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) annually. Table 14 breaks down earnings by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). We take Gross Hourly Pay for all employee jobs in the UK (Table 14.5a), selected for SOC codes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1111, and use the median average. 

For calculation of Intrastat cost, a weighted average of the SOCs is used, while for ACS, code 3 (junior manager) is used. This explains the difference in calculated hourly rate in the tables. 

Source: Earnings and hours worked, occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 14

Official statistics publication  

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).  

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. 

This release reflects these standards of trustworthiness, quality and value, by reducing the burden on businesses in removing one survey, and the associated reduction in cost.  

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing [email protected].  

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing [email protected] or via the OSR website

If using specific facts contained in this release, please check the information is still current.