HMRC collected £622.9 billion in taxes on behalf of the Treasury in 2018/19, according to its latest figures.

Last year's total figure was an increase of 4.8% on the previous year's total of £594bn, despite an estimated tax gap of £35bn in 2017/18.

The record for VAT receipts was broken once again last year, soaring to £131.7bn in 2018/19 - the final year before the introduction of Making Tax Digital.

A stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers saw receipts collected from this tax in England and Northern Ireland fall for the first time since 2010/11, to less than £16bn.

Analysis from NFU Mutual claimed capital gains tax receipts grew 18%, possibly fuelled by residential landlords selling less profitable buy-to-let properties.

Sean McCann, chartered financial planner at NFU Mutual, said:

"Capital gains tax is a growing source of revenue for the Government, and this is partly due to some private landlords choosing to offload buy-to-let investments.

"Landlords are being squeezed from two sides by the taxman. HMRC clearly sees the opportunity to increase the capital gains tax coffers by targeting them."

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