No. 03 · The observatory
Government tax administration
HMRC runs a 2005 SAP release processing over £800 billion a year.
- Status
- Open
- Rank
- 5 of 35 in the atlas
- Scored
- 2026-10-05
- Report
- Back to the study
- Rank
- 5 of 35, published score 66.5
- Scoring date
- 2026-10-05, reported 2026-10-09
- Buyable
- $7.1B buyable midpoint, $4.5B to $11.2B recorded legacy spend
- Factors
- size 4, pain 3.3, AI fit 3, lock-in 3, crowding 1
- Coverage
- none recorded
Government tax administration
Ranked 6 of 35 at 66.5 out of 100.
Core tax accounting, filing and payment platforms for revenue agencies.
What the evidence says
The checked evidence corroborates government-tax platform pain. The IRS hand-keyed every digit of paper returns into 2022. HMRC’s own business case records reliance on a 2005 SAP release. India’s ministry recorded taxpayer-reported glitches in its new portal.
Providers
The card checked three incumbents: FAST’s GenTax, SAP and Infosys. FAST reports over 60 tax and revenue agencies on GenTax worldwide. HMRC reports over £800 billion processed annually through SAP-based ETMP. India’s ministry recorded ₹164.5 crore paid to Infosys through June 2021. An agency count, a throughput and a payment cannot be ranked.
Quantexa is the recorded challenger. HMRC awarded it a £175 million, ten-year data modernisation partnership. The award is contracted, not delivered. Its AI-native status is unknown.
Sources:
- Quantexa selected by HMRC for Landmark £175M Sovereign Data and AI Transformation
- Integrated software for modern government agencies
- ETMP Regeneration Programme summary business case
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No 967: New Income Tax Portal
The pain
The IRS lacked scanning technology for paper Forms 1040. Employees hand-keyed every digit; the backlog neared 15 million returns.
HMRC’s market testing found no alternative provider within acceptable bounds. A non-SAP replacement was assessed at over £700 million more cost.
Sources:
- Taxpayer Advocate Service
- ETMP Regeneration Programme summary business case
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No 967: New Income Tax Portal
- Quantexa selected by HMRC for Landmark £175M Sovereign Data and AI Transformation
Events
The IRS paper backlog snapshot is March 2022, under COVID-19 conditions. It does not establish the current backlog.
HMRC published its regeneration business case in July 2026. The £700-million figures are prospective estimates, not incurred costs.
Sources:
Limits
The IRS figures are a dated snapshot, not the current state. HMRC’s estimates are high-level option assessments. The Quantexa award is a contract, not a completed migration.
Sources:
- Integrated software for modern government agencies
- ETMP Regeneration Programme summary business case
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No 967: New Income Tax Portal
- Quantexa selected by HMRC for Landmark £175M Sovereign Data and AI Transformation
- Taxpayer Advocate Service
In their words
each digit on every paper return must be manually keystroked
Source: National Taxpayer Advocate blog (Taxpayer Advocate Service), 2022-03-30
alternative providers could not meet HMRC’s requirements within acceptable cost and timescales.
Source: HM Revenue and Customs business-case author, 2026-07-16
Relevant workflows
6 recorded openings. A missing mapped round is a coverage gap, not an empty field.
| Workflow | Index | Labour | AI use | Core | Mapped |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taxpayer contact centre and account inquiries gov-tax:taxpayer-service | 498 | $85.1B | 57% | non-core | 0 |
| Paper return, payment and correspondence intake and data capture gov-tax:returns-intake | 384 | $38.7B | 22% | non-core | 0 |
| Audit selection, examination, non-filer discovery and refund fraud screening gov-tax:audit-compliance-fraud | 286 | $63.8B | 24% | non-core | 2 |
| Local property valuation, exemptions and assessment roll maintenance gov-tax:property-assessment | 119 | $3.0B | 0% | non-core | 0 |
| Payment posting, delinquent account collection and revenue reconciliation gov-tax:payments-collections | -275 | $43.2B | 12% | touches core | 0 |
| Return validation, error resolution and account adjustments gov-tax:return-validation-adjustments | -512 | $1.8B | 0% | touches core | 0 |
Recorded providers
Provider claims carry their recorded kind and citations. Undisclosed figures stay undisclosed.
| Provider | Products | Parent | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Enterprises | GenTax | unknown | cl-tax-rel-fast-enterprises (inference) source cl-tax-inc-fast-enterprises (inference) source cl-tax-m-fast-60 (observation) source |
| SAP | SAP ECC6.0-based HMRC Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP), SAP S/4HANA (planned migration target) | unknown | cl-tax-rel-sap (inference) source cl-tax-inc-sap (inference) source cl-tax-m-sap-800b (observation) source |
| Infosys | Integrated E-filing and Centralized Processing Centre 2.0 managed-service project | unknown | cl-tax-rel-infosys (inference) source cl-tax-inc-infosys (inference) source cl-tax-m-infosys-1645 (observation) source |
Recorded inputs
Raw scored inputs exactly as frozen. Values and units keep their recorded definitions.
| Factor | Input | Value | Count | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pain | keep_alive_share | unavailable | 7 | unavailable |
| pain | backend_failure_share | unavailable | 0 | unavailable |
| pain | app_rating_inverted | 3.0453669230769234 | 13 | 4 |
| pain | failed_rate | 0.45454545454545453 | 11 | 3 |
| pain | s3_grade | weak | 1 | 3 |
| pain | mean | 3.3333333333333335 | unavailable | 3.3 |
| lockin | award_duration_months | unavailable | 6 | unavailable |
| lockin | noncompetitive_share | unavailable | 8 | unavailable |
| lockin | replacement_duration_months | 72 | 6 | 5 |
| lockin | regulator_approval | 1 | 1 | |
| lockin | mean | 3 | unavailable | 3 |
| crowding | ai_native_traction | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| crowding | funding_per_billion | 549350.2655735357 | 1 | 1 |
| crowding | yc_2024_plus | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| crowding | mean | 1 | unavailable | 1 |
| size | users_midpoint | 135 | unavailable | unavailable |
| size | buyers_mid | 139707.5 | unavailable | unavailable |
| size | midpoint | 7099295739.71954 | unavailable | unavailable |
| ai_fit | mean | 3.4556 | 12 | 3 |
| ai_fit | unanswered | unavailable | 0 | unavailable |
Recorded sources
22 recorded citations. Each link lands on the sources catalogue.
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