As Digital Service Owner in the Chief Digital Product Office, Lee Hawksworth looks back at over ten years of the HMRC app, from a simple online tax calculator to an app consistently rated in the top 5 free finance apps in the UK and now at the forefront of HMRC’s Digital Services.
In the ten years since the HMRC app was launched, millions of people have already used it to interact with HMRC digitally and be ‘on it’ with their money and tax. Last financial year, a record 7.65 million users accessed the HMRC app to do things like claim their Child Benefit, pay their Self Assessment bill or checking their pay and tax. They chose to use it simply because it does what an app does: it provides a quick and convenient solution meeting the expectations of a digital society.
While the app provides a simple digital solution to millions of people, there’s also a bigger picture in that it’s fundamentally changed the way HMRC serves our customers and the way they interact with us.
Instead of worrying if their tax is correct and picking up the phone, customers can access and view their tax details at their fingertips, have more control over their tax affairs and can be regularly and proactively self-serving at the tap of a button. Latest figures on customer interactions show 96.8% of customers do not call HMRC within 7 days of using the HMRC app.
In simply doing what an app does, it’s also a major player in HMRC’s digital-first strategy, with its aim of 90% of interactions being digital by 2029 to 2030, as well as doing some pretty heavy-lifting in meeting the government’s vision of simplifying tax for everyone.
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The Early Days of HMRC App
The first iteration of the HMRC app was launched in 2016, providing customers with a simple calculator to work out the tax they’ll need to pay on their earnings. In the early days of app development, tens and then hundreds of customers were using it instead of millions.
Development highlights of HMRC App include:
- In 2017 customers were able to renew their Tax Credits.
- Also in 2017 customers could check and correct their Paye As You Earn (PAYE) information, with 5.6 million people viewing their PAYE summary in the 2025 to 2026 financial year alone.
- In 2018 HMRC experimented with push notifications to 150,000 Tax Credit customers.
- In 2019, customers could request tax refunds via the app.
- In March 2020 push notifications were available for customers who had digital letters waiting for them in their online account.
- In April 2020, the HMRC app was used to support critical messaging during the pandemic.
- Annual Tax Summaries were made available in 2021.
- In April 2022 Self Assessment customers were able to pay their tax bills via the HMRC app for the first time using Open Banking.
- In 2023 customers could view and add their National Insurance number to their device wallet.
- In June 2023, the HMRC app became bi-lingual serving Welsh Language customers.
Up to 2022, 2.2 million customers downloaded the app. The services now available on the app are wide and varied, from viewing your National Insurance record and State Pension forecast to claiming Child Benefit and applying for Help to Save. The ability to download your National Insurance number and save it to your digital wallet is one of the most popular functions on the app with over 1.2 million downloads since it launched in 2023.
Another popular function is claiming Child Benefit. Latest figures show 87% of all Child Benefit claims are now digital.
How it’s Used Today
More than 80% of all interactions with HMRC are now digital and the HMRC app is the trusted go-to product for individuals, making tax easier for them and more efficient for HMRC. It continues to provide simple straightforward solutions for our customers who, recognising the benefits of having their tax details to hand, used it 155 million times in the last tax year.
The HMRC app continues to bring huge efficiencies for customers and for the organisation. For every person who claims Child Benefit online and via the app – as more than 650,000 families did in the 12 months to April 2026 – they, on average, have their claim processed in a matter of days rather than weeks.
For each customer who downloaded their National Insurance number via the app they have it at their fingertips in minutes rather than waiting over two weeks for a letter to drop on their doormat.
Self Assessment customers paid £1.6 billion to settle their tax bills instantly with a few taps of the app during the 2025-26 tax year.
With 24/7 access, people are getting on with their lives, there’s no hold up to their money and they can get their tax affairs sorted.
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Fit for the Future?
In a recent survey of more than 5,200 people, over 90% of HMRC app users said it meets their expectations and it is reviewed at 4.8 out of 5 by over 237,000 of App Store reviewers.
Work within the app is starting to explore new ways to help customers stay in control of their payments, making it easier to set up and track their ‘Time to Pay’ arrangements through a simple digital journey. Alongside this, new features will support the digitisation of post, giving customers quicker, easier access to important communications in one secure place.
Work will also make the app more intuitive with customer-specific content and relevant notifications and nudges, improving the overall user interface based on user research and journey tracking including action-focused titles to aid navigation as well as toggles to reduce scrolling
In its tenth year, the HMRC app has its sights set on achieving 10 million users in 2026-27. Supported by fun, innovative advertising campaigns in which a talking pizza, a musical duck and a yeti encourage customers to be “On It”, and, with a 28% increase in usage in just the last year, the HMRC app certainly is.
The app allows you to check and manage your pay and tax. You too can be ‘on it’ and download the HMRC app today.