HMRC boss Homer to step down in April

DAME LIN HOMER is to step down from her role as chief executive of HM Revenue & Customs after more than four years in the role.

Her tenure has been dominated by the battle against tax avoidance, an issue which came to prominence shortly after she took the job in January 2012.

Homer suffered much criticism as CEO for struggling to deal with big businesses including Google, Amazon and Starbucks diverting their profits offshore in order to drive down tax bills, and a record of poor ‘customer service’.

But her cheerleaders will point to successive, record-breaking increases in total revenues, compliance revenues and the reduction of the tax gap and tax credits error and fraud, both to record lows as among her biggest successes.

She is to leave the tax authority at a key juncture as it embarks on an ambitious digitisation project including a switch to personal online tax accounts. The reorganisation will result in the closure of 137 tax offices by 2027 as HMRC moves to a largely digital interface with taxpayers and the agents that act on behalf of businesses and individuals across the UK.

Homer received a Damehood in the New Year’s honours list for her services to public finance.