Guidance

Issue 105 of Agent Update

Published 15 February 2023

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/agent-update-issue-105/issue-105-of-agent-update

This month’s content

Technical Updates and Reminders

Developments and changes to legislation and allowances relating to UK tax including:

Tax

Making Tax Digital

HMRC Agent Services

Details of live consultations and links to responses, changes to HMRC service and guidance, including:

Agent Forum and Engagement

Latest updates from the partnership between HMRC and the main agent representative bodies. Including:

Technical Updates and Reminders

Tax

Find out about the Income Record Viewer

The Income Record Viewer gives you access to your client’s:

  • PAYE information for the current year and the 4 previous tax years
  • employment records, including time in employment, taxable benefits and any gap where no record is held by HMRC
  • income record
  • state and private pension information
  • a breakdown of tax codes

You can send the same link for Income Record Viewer to all your clients, but all links expire in 21 days.

Find out how to get access to the Income Record Viewer for agents.

Budget payment plan for Self Assessment customers

HMRC provides Self Assessment customers whose payments and returns are up to date, the option to start a budget payment plan.

A budget payment plan allows customers to make regular advance payments towards their next Self Assessment tax bill. HMRC will collect payments by Direct Debit as instructed by the customer.

Customers can set up and manage their budget payment plan using their HMRC online account. They can:

  • decide the regular weekly or monthly amount they want us to collect
  • choose to amend their regular payment amount
  • choose to suspend payment for a period of up to six months
  • cancel it at any time

The budget payment plan does not mean customers can delay payment beyond the due date. They will need to ensure that any balance still owing (after subtracting their budget payment plan payments) is paid off by the due date. Any balance still owed after the due date will become liable for interest.

If you think your clients would prefer to pay this way, please encourage them to start a budget payment plan. Making regular payments reduces what your clients will have to pay on 31 January and 31 July deadline.

You can do this by sharing the ‘Pay weekly or monthly’ page to help educate your clients about this service.

Businesses urged to disclose till misuse

Businesses misusing their tills to evade paying tax should make a voluntary disclosure to HMRC to pay what they owe or face severe penalties.

HMRC has detailed data identifying the name and address of businesses, that are suspected of using an Electronic Sales Suppression system (ESS) to manipulate records of their takings to reduce the amount of tax paid.

Users are now being urged to make a voluntary disclosure to HMRC by 9 April to pay what they owe. HMRC will follow-up with those who fail to come forward. This will mean more severe penalties.

By making a voluntary disclosure now, businesses will see their financial penalties reduced. Fines for those using ESS systems can be up to £50,000 if the tool is not removed or ceased to be used.

This is on top of penalties for not paying tax, which can be up to 100 per cent of the tax that is due, along with interest and payment in full of the evaded tax.

In the most severe cases those involved can face criminal prosecution. HMRC has already made a series of arrests in relation to ESS systems.

Businesses can make a disclosure using a simple form available on GOV.UK.

HMRC also encourages anyone with information about businesses using or selling ESS systems to report tax fraud or avoidance to HMRC quoting ‘ESS23’.

End of year reporting for employers

HMRC have published an article in the February 2023 Employer Bulletin advising employers about reporting their final PAYE submissions for the 2022 to 2023 tax year.

Submitting your client’s 2023 to 2024 Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) return

Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) is an annual tax payable mainly by companies that own UK residential property valued at more than £500,000.

The next ATED chargeable period is 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. If your client is within the charge to ATED, returns for this period must be filed and any charge paid by 30 April 2023.

When preparing to send your client’s 2023 to 2024 ATED return, you must use the same credentials used to set up the ATED record. You can begin populating an online ATED return for 2023 to 2024 from around mid-March but can’t submit it before 1 April 2023.

If your client has disposed of a property, please submit an amended return, or contact us to tell us about this change. Please also contact us if your client has changed relief code for a property or had a change in their circumstances as this will avoid unnecessary contact.

If you’re unable to use the ATED online service, further information can be found in the ATED returns notice. Do not send old versions of ATED manual paper returns that you may have saved.

Revaluation date — 01 April 2022

There are fixed revaluation dates for all properties every 5 years from 1 April 2012. The latest revaluation date is 1 April 2022. This valuation should be used in your clients return for the 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 chargeable period.

What your client needs to do

Your client needs to revalue their property as of 1 April 2022. Valuations must be on an open-market willing buyer, willing seller basis and be a specific amount. They can either use a professional surveyor or they can self-assess. When the property has been revalued, you’ll need to find out what Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings valuation band it falls into. If they own any other properties, they need to check to see if they’re liable for the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings charge too.

If they are liable, you’ll need to submit an ATED return for these properties between 1 April 2023 and 30 April 2023. If they are unsure of the property valuation, please submit a pre-return banding check (PRBC). You must keep a record of this valuation for your future year returns. Please note this valuation will not impact their 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 return.

What happens next

You’ll need to make sure that you show the correct valuation band details on your clients 2023 to 2024 Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings return. You must submit this between 1 April 2023 and 30 April 2023. If your clients return is received late and/or is incorrect your client may have to pay additional Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings, interest and penalties.

Read more about Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings on GOV.UK.

Preparing for the new tax year basis — Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA)

The rules HMRC uses to work out sole traders’ and partners’ profits for Income Tax in a Self Assessment return are changing for many businesses for 2023 to 2024 onwards. This may affect the return that they must submit by 31 January 2025. It will also affect subsequent returns.

This change is not affected by the delay to the introduction of Making Tax Digital for ITSA announced on 19 December 2022.

Only taxpayers with an accounting date other than 31 March or 5 April are affected by this reform.

Starting from April 2024, businesses will be taxed on profits for the tax year instead of being taxed on the profits for the accounting year that ends within a tax year, as per new rules.

For 2024 to 2025 and future years, where accounting years are different from the tax year end, the taxable profits will be worked out by apportioning the profits for the 2 accounting periods that straddle the tax year.

The year 2023 to 2024 is a ‘transition year’ in which self-employed businesses will move to the new way of calculating taxable profits for the tax year.

Businesses will need to declare the total profits from the end of the last accounting date in 2022 to 2023 up to 5 April 2024. This means that profits generated over a longer period will be taxable in the transition year.

In 2023 to 2024, businesses can use any overlap relief resulting from overlap profit when the business first started. By default, any remaining additional profit can be spread over 5 years.

For example, if a business’s accounting date is 31 December 2023, they must declare profits from 1 January 2023 to 5 April 2024 (15 months rather than 12) in their tax return for the tax year 2023 to 2024, which is due by 31 January 2025.

The transition year 2023 to 2024 will present an opportunity for all businesses currently trading, regardless of accounting date, to use any overlap relief due.

From 2023 to 2024 onwards, some businesses might have to use provisional figures on their returns. The government will relax its guidance to give businesses the normal amendment time limits to submit their final figures if they have submitted provisional figures as part of their tax return.

Where a business’s accounting date is changed in 2022 to 2023, the current change of accounting date rules will apply. Where a business decides to change its accounting date from 2023 to 2024 onwards, these rules will not apply, and a change can be made regardless of past changes.

For businesses changing accounting date in the 2021 to 22 tax year, HMRC will be able to provide details of overlap relief figures or historic profit figures on request. If these figures are recorded in HMRC systems. Taxpayers should ring the HMRC Self Assessment Helpline and agents should ring the Agent Dedicated Line if they need this information to complete a 2021 to 2022 tax return.

Taxpayers looking to change accounting dates and use overlap relief in tax years 2022 to 2023 or 2023 to 2024 should wait until further information on the provision of overlap relief figures for these tax years is announced.

Ahead of further guidance being published soon on GOV.UK, read the basis period reform policy paper for background information.

You can also read more information available in a GOV.UK news article on basis period reform.

Alcohol Duty review — Share your views on the proposed secondary legislation by 9 April 2023

Stakeholders including producers, importers, and resellers of alcoholic products have from 13 February 2023 until 9 April 2023 to submit their views on the secondary legislation — which will come into effect on 1 August 2023.

Have your say by emailing HMRC at the address published on the Alcoholic Products (Excise Duty) Regulations consultation page on GOV.UK.

Short-term property letting income — getting tax right

HMRC is writing to a small number of customers who might’ve earned income from short term property lettings to help them get their tax right. This includes those who might have earnings from letting their property using sites such as Airbnb.co.uk, Booking.com, VRBO and Holiday Lettings.

We’re making customers aware that if they’ve earned income from short-term property lettings, they need to let HMRC know because they may need to pay tax on their earnings.

Customers can use the online digital disclosure service to provide information on earnings. They can go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC: disclosure service’.

Tax-free allowances

There are tax-free allowances available which may mean that less or no tax is due on property income. To find out more about the allowances, customers can go to GOV.UK and search for ‘Tax-free allowances on property and trading income’.

Student Loans thresholds, rates and loan start notices

We wanted to advise Agents that the new student loan plan and postgraduate loan thresholds and rates from 6 April 2023 are as follows:

  • plan 1: £22,015
  • plan 2: £27,295
  • plan 4: £27,660
  • postgraduate loan: £21,000

Deductions for:

  • plans 1, 2 and 4 remain at 9% for any earnings above the respective thresholds
  • postgraduate loan remains at 6% for any earnings above the respective threshold

Student loan plans, loan types and thresholds guidance will be updated on 6 April 2023 with the new thresholds.

If you deal with payroll we also wanted to confirm the arrangements for student and postgraduate loan start notices.

If you receive a student loan and or postgraduate loan start notice (SL1/PGL1) from HMRC for your client’s employee, it is important that you check and use the correct:

  • loan or plan type on the start notice
  • start date shown on the notice

This makes sure that the employee’s do not pay any more or less than they have to.

If the employee’s earnings are:

  • below the respective student loan and postgraduate loan thresholds, you should update the employee’s payroll record to show they have a student loan and or postgraduate loan and file the start notice — you do not need to return this to HMRC

  • above the respective student loan and postgraduate loan thresholds, and deductions have not been taken, HMRC will send a generic notification service prompt as a reminder — if deductions still haven’t started, we may contact you directly

Deductions should continue until HMRC notifies to stop.

If you no longer act on behalf of the client, it is important that your clients record is updated to remove your details.

For more information, read starting student loan and postgraduate loan deductions — checking plan and loan type guidance.

Venture Capital Schemes — new online service for submitting compliance statements for SEIS and EIS schemes

HMRC has introduced a new online service for submitting SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) and EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) compliance statements from 31st January 2023.

The new service enables companies and their agents to complete and submit a Compliance Statement and all supporting documents online directly to HMRC’s Venture Capital Reliefs (VCR) Team.

Companies that have issued shares for an investment under the SEIS or EIS must now use the new online forms available on the GOV.UK guidance:

You should note that:

  • a copy of the authorisation to act on behalf of the company, signed and dated within the last 3 months, will need to be provided with every statement
  • the online statement can be saved at any stage and returned to within 28 days
  • the new service allows supporting documents to be provided with the statement, there is no longer a need to email either the statement or supporting documents to HMRC
  • a unique reference will be provided on successful submission of each statement

Guidance available:

To support these changes HMRC have updated the GOV.UK guidance as well as the Venture Capital Schemes Manual — VCM35020 and Venture Capital Schemes Manual — VCM14020.

Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs: merger consultation — draft guidance

You may wish to share your views in a consultation on the design of a single, simplified Research and Development (R&D) tax relief scheme, launched in January by HM Treasury on GOV.UK.

The consultation details the proposed merger of the Research & Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) and small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) R&D tax relief.

Please send your comments or submissions by 2:00pm on 13 March to RDTaxReliefs@hmtreasury.gov.uk.

The consultation does not impact the existing R&D reforms which come into force on 1 April 2023.

Please also note that you still have time to comment on R&D draft guidance until 11.45pm on 28 February 2023, before the government implements reforms to the Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs on 1 April 2023.

The guidance clarifies technical aspects of how the reforms will work in practice and includes a list of the additional information that will be required for claims. Several of the clarifications have been made thanks to stakeholder feedback.

You can send your comments by email to: rdtaxreliefdraftguidance2022@hmrc.gov.uk

Economic Crime Levy for anti-money laundering regulated businesses

The Economic Crime Levy (ECL) was introduced in Part 3 of Finance Act 2022, as part of the Government’s plan to develop a sustainable resourcing model for economic crime reform.

HMRC will be publishing guidance on the ECL in February 2023. This will be found on GOV.UK and contain the following information:

  • checking if you need to register for the Economic Crime Levy
  • registering for the Economic Crime Levy
  • submitting a return for the Economic Crime Levy
  • paying the Economic Crime Levy

A link to the guidance will be shared in the next Agent Update.

The second-hand motor vehicle payment scheme

HMRC has published guidance on the second-hand motor vehicle payment scheme. The scheme, originally announced in 2021, was previously called the Second-hand Motor Vehicle Export Refund Scheme.

This new scheme will be introduced on 1‌‌‌ ‌‌May 2023 and will allow businesses to claim a VAT-related payment if they buy a second-hand vehicle in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and move it to Northern Ireland for resale.

Currently, if a business sells a used vehicle in Northern Ireland which they bought in Great Britain, they can account for VAT on the margin. The margin is the difference between the purchase price and the sale price.

When the new scheme is introduced, it will allow businesses who buy used motor vehicles in Great Britain to claim a VAT-related payment when they move them to Northern Ireland for resale.

In such cases, businesses will no longer be able to use the VAT margin scheme when they sell the vehicle. Although VAT will be charged on the full selling price of the vehicle when it is sold, the VAT-related payment will put businesses who buy eligible vehicles from Great Britain in a similar position to that of the VAT margin scheme.

Read more information about the new scheme on GOV‌‌‌.UK.

Update on UK implementation of global tax reform

Previous editions of Agent Update (issues 102) and Agent Update (issues 99) explained that work is ongoing to implement changes to the international corporate tax framework at UK level.

Pillar 1

Amount A of Pillar 1 reforms international tax rules, to ensure a greater share of the profit of the largest multinationals is taxed in the countries in which customers are located, regardless of whether firms have a physical presence there. On 20 December 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued an Amount A consultation document on The Withdrawal and Standstill of Digital Services Taxes and Other Relevant Similar Measures.

Amount B simplifies the application of existing transfer pricing rules to baseline marketing and distribution activities. On 8 December 2022, the OECD published a public consultation document and webinar on Amount B.

Stakeholders were invited to provide comments by late January 2023. Responses received to both consultations are currently being taken on board in the ongoing design of the rules.

The signing ceremony for the multilateral convention that will implement Amount A is planned to take place in the first half of 2023, with the ambition of Amount A entering into force in 2024 if the convention is ratified by a critical mass of jurisdictions. The OECD is working to complete Amount B in the first half of 2023.

UK implementation will need to comply with the international agreement that is ultimately reached. We will start detailed preparations for the implementation of Amount A once the model rules and multilateral convention text are finalised.

Pillar 2

As part of Autumn Statement 2022, the Chancellor reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to “implementing the OECD Pillar 2 rules for a global minimum corporate tax rate.” For accounting periods beginning on or after 31 December 2023 the government will:

  • introduce an Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) which will require large UK headquartered multinational groups to pay a top-up tax where their foreign operations have an effective tax rate of less than 15%
  • introduce a supplementary Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up (QDMTT) tax rule which will require large groups, including those operating exclusively in the UK, to pay a top-up tax where their UK operations have an effective tax rate of less than 15%

The government also intends to implement the backstop Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR) in the UK, but with effect no earlier than accounting periods beginning on or after 31 December 2024.

There are still several Pillar 2 design questions to be agreed at OECD which will impact UK implementation.

What customers will need to do for Pillar 2

The rules will apply to large businesses operating in the UK with global revenues over €750 million.

Groups will need to register with HMRC on GOV.UK that they are in scope of the Pillar 2 rules. A qualifying group with a consolidated accounting period ending on 31 December 2024 will need to register by 30 June 2025.

Groups will be required to complete a UK tax return to report their UK Pillar 2 tax liabilities. They will also need to file a GloBE (global anti-base erosion rules) Information Return (GIR) which shows their global Pillar 2 tax calculations. We expect groups to only file the information return in one country, with tax authorities then sharing it with other countries using exchange of information processes, which are under development.

The deadline for filing returns and paying the tax is 18 months after the end of the group’s consolidated accounting period (15 months after the first year.) A qualifying group with a consolidated accounting period ending on 31 December 2024 will need to file their first returns by 30 June 2026.

HMRC is continuing to engage with key stakeholders such as representative and trade bodies. This includes to discuss plans for publication of guidance and other support for customers and agents. More details of this will be shared in coming months.

Plastic Packaging Tax — check if your clients need to register

Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) was introduced on 1 April 2022. If your clients manufacture or import 10 or more tonnes of plastic packaging within a 12 month period they must register for PPT on GOV.UK, even if their packaging contains 30% or more recycled plastic.

To find out more and support your clients read the Plastic Packaging Tax collection page on GOV.UK.

Guidance

Visit the Plastic Packaging Tax collection page for the latest guidance, including:

Webinars

Watch recordings of our latest Plastic Packaging Tax webinar sessions on GOV.UK. Both webinars have been updated to reflect developments to the transport packaging exemption.

Find out when and how to submit a return on GOV.UK.

Statements on invoices

HMRC remain committed to the importance of making clear where Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) has been charged to encourage greater use of recycled plastic. Where possible, we encourage businesses liable to PPT to provide information about the tax paid on invoices to business customers.

However, we will no longer be introducing this as a legal requirement.

Please visit the updated guidance on record keeping and accounts for plastic packaging tax for more detailed information, which also provide examples of other ways to make the tax visible to business customers.

We also encourage you to work with your business customers to try and increase, wherever possible, the amount of recycled plastic they use in their plastic packaging.

Tax Avoidance Spotlights

Spotlight 61 provides an update on a remuneration trust tax avoidance scheme. The cases of Marlborough DP Ltd, Strategic Branding Ltd and CIA Insurance Services Ltd have all been heard in the Tax Tribunal. All three companies used the same tax avoidance scheme.

In all three cases the scheme did not work. All three companies will need to pay substantially more tax than if they had not entered into a tax avoidance scheme.

The Spotlight covers what the tribunal decided in each case, what this means for those who used or promoted the scheme, and what people should do if they have used this or similar schemes.

If you have any clients who used the scheme and would like to discuss resolving their scheme use with HMRC please contact us.

Spotlight 58 covers tax avoidance using unfunded pensions arrangements. This spotlight has been updated following a General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) Advisory Panel opinion relating to a step often used in such schemes — rewards via creation and sale of pension obligation.

The GAAR Advisory panel opinion considered the tax arrangements were not a reasonable course of action either to enter into or carry out.

Spotlight 58 will help you understand the GAAR Advisory Panel opinion and what it means for any clients using tax avoidance schemes involving unfunded pension arrangements.

If any of your clients are using the tax avoidance schemes outlined in these Spotlights, you should encourage them to leave and settle their tax affairs as outlined in the Spotlights.

Find out more about tax avoidance so you can spot the warning signs. HMRC wants to help everyone get their tax affairs right the first time.

Making Tax Digital

Correction — Agents Services Account details in Agent Update (103) December edition

Some inaccurate information was included in an article in December’s Agent Update (103) relating to the Agents Services Account (ASA). Some of the services listed as being available and unavailable to agents were not up to date. We are sorry for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.

The ASA can reduce how often agents need to contact the department.

Agents can carry out a wide range of clients requests online by accessing the VAT or other tax services from the ASA. This includes viewing certain elements of their clients VAT information.

An updated list is shown below.

Agents can access the VAT Service in the ASA to enter the VAT “View & Change” service, which allows them to:

  • view payments/liabilities
  • change a business name — agents are passed to Companies House to make the change
  • change Principal Place of Business (PPOB)​
  • change VAT return dates​
  • de-register from VAT ​
  • view/print VAT Certificate​
  • submit VAT return (3PP & Online on UI)​
  • view/print VAT return
  • annual accounting — leave by stagger change​
  • change/add business phone numbers (mobile and landline)​
  • change/add trading name​

Some services are unavailable to agents. You should contact HMRC by phone to:

  • change/add email address​
  • change repayment bank account​
  • change contact preference (email or paper)​
  • request verification of an unverified email address

Read more information on HMRC services for tax agents is available on GOV.UK.

HMRC Agent Services

How to update your designatory details with HMRC

If you are changing your designatory details, such as your name, address, telephone number or email address, there are different processes to update HMRC, depending on which tax regimes you are associated with.

Agents with an agent services account, a self assessment agent code or a corporation tax agent code should inform HMRC Agent Maintainer Team of the changes by writing to:

Agent Compliance Team
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1ZE

If you do not need to change any of your designatory details and currently have an agent services account, you should check the address held on the account. HMRC will use this address for correspondence. We would also recommend this check is carried out because there are some agent services accounts currently without addresses.

If you have a PAYE agent code, you should telephone the Online Services Helpdesk on 0300 200 3600 to update your details. You will also need to write to the Central Agent Authorisation Team, sending your client list for PAYE so HMRC can update your new address on all client records. The address to write to is:

Central Agent Authorisation Team
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AN
United Kingdom

There is currently no available route to update HMRC for the following VAT services:

  • VAT Mini One Stop Shop (VAT MOSS)
  • VAT EU refunds for Agents
  • Notification of Vehicle Arrivals (NOVA)

Change of circumstances — Cessation

If you cease to trade or operate as an agent, you should de-authorise all clients and inform HMRC Agent Maintainer Team by writing to:

Agent Compliance Team
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1ZE

You should provide:

  • name
  • business name
  • address
  • postcode
  • date of cessation
  • agent codes for HMRC Online services for agents’ legacy accounts

This is a requirement regardless of whether you have an agent services account, an HMRC online services account or both. If you have a PAYE agent code, it is also necessary to supply a complete client list.

Updating your client’s designatory details

For an agent to change their client’s designatory details, they should follow the processes below.

Self Assessment

Any changes to your clients’ designatory details should be made using HMRC’s Self Assessment for Agents online service.

PAYE

Any changes such as a client’s name, business name, address, telephone number or email address, should be notified by telephoning the Employer’s Helpline on 0300 200 3200.

Corporation tax

Any changes made to the company name or to the registered office address at Companies House automatically flow from Companies House to HMRC who will update their records. All other changes, such as change of accounting dates, telephone number and email address should be made in writing to:

CT Services
HM Revenue & Customs
BX9 1AX
United Kingdom.

VAT

Within the Agent Services Account, changes can be made to the trading name, principal place of business, and contact telephone numbers (but not email address) on the VAT View & Change service. There is also the option to start the process of changing the business name through this service although you will be directed to Companies House to proceed.

For changes to the names of sole traders, partnerships and incorporated companies, you should use form VAT 484. You can also use this to notify HMRC of a change to the principal place of business, contact telephone numbers and email address.

For other services within the Agent Services Account such as Making Tax Digital ITSA, Capital Gains Tax 30-day reporting, Plastic Packaging Tax and Trusts, changes can be made to your clients’ details by logging into your Agent Services Account.

We would like your feedback on our manuals

We recognise the important role that tax advisers play in helping taxpayers navigate the tax system, comply with their obligations, and receive their entitlements. Therefore, we would like your feedback on our manuals so that we can provide you with the best possible information to support your clients.

We have 90,000 pages of content in our manuals on GOV.UK which as you can imagine, is a challenge to manage, maintain and improve. If you use our manuals, you can help by leaving feedback — there are a variety of ways in which you can do this which we’ve explained below.

In 2021 to 2022 we received 3,068 items of feedback and made 1,626 improvements to our manuals based on those feedback items, so it really does make a difference.

Let us know if a page was helpful

You can quickly and easily let us know if the content of a page was helpful by clicking either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the question ‘Is this page useful?’. The question is situated below the main content of any manual page, and you can answer anonymously. Doing this helps us to understand what guidance is working as intended and what needs our attention. If you answer ‘No’ you also get the option to provide your email address so you can be sent a generic survey about GOV.UK to tell us what you think.

Below the main content of the page, there is text stating, ‘Report a problem with this page’. Following that link lets you tell us what you were trying to do on the page and what issues you encountered. We monitor this anonymous feedback closely and subject matter experts make changes to the manuals to fix errors and improve clarity.

Provide feedback and get a reply if you want one

You can use the ‘contact’ link at the very bottom of any page, then the link to the ‘GOV.UK form’ to provide more detailed feedback. Detailed technical queries are directed to HMRC subject matter experts for analysis and to provide a response if you’ve asked for one and provided your contact details.

Business advisers — help your employer clients stay on top of their workplace pensions duties

Your clients may rely on you to steer them through their duties to keep them compliant with automatic enrolment.

Join us on 14 March 2023 at 2:30pm for our webinar just for advisers. It’s free and will cover what employers need to do to meet their automatic enrolment duties, including completing re-enrolment, calculating pensions contributions and how to help employers avoid common errors.

You’ll have a chance to ask questions during a live Q&A session following the webinar.

Book your place now on a live webinar now.

Support for customers who need extra help

We have principles of support for customers who need extra help. These set out our commitment to support customers according to their needs, and underpin the HMRC Charter.

Find out how to get help and what extra support is available.

Tax Agent Toolkits

HMRC have 20 Tax agent toolkits available for you to download and use. They have been designed to address the most common errors seen from previous years. They include checklists of the key issues to consider and links to HMRC technical guidance and manuals.

Please be aware that our toolkits are currently being updated.

Here is the breakdown of toolkits by category:

By identifying the most common errors this may prompt a conversation between you and your clients to ensure submissions are correct.

Contact

Complain to HMRC

To make a complaint to HMRC on behalf of your client you must be appointed as their Tax Advisor.

Where’s My Reply? For tax agents

Find out when you can expect to get a reply from HMRC to a query or request you have made. There is also a dedicated service for tax agents to:

  • register you as an agent to use HMRC online services
  • process an application for authority to act on behalf of a client

Manuals

You can check the latest updates to HMRC manuals or subscribe to automatic notification of changes. You can also suggest improvements for pages of our manuals by using the feedback options in the page footer.

Online

Online training material and useful resources for tax agents and advisers

HMRC videos on YouTube, online learning modules, and live and pre-recorded webinars are available for tax agents and advisers providing you with free help, learning and support on topical subjects.

Publications

Employer Bulletin

The latest edition of Employer Bulletin is now available and contains topical and useful information about PAYE processes and procedures. For employers to be informed when it is available on the website, they must first register to receive the email alerts.

National Insurance Services to Pensions Industry: countdown bulletins

Countdown Bulletin 53 has been added to this collection.

Pension schemes newsletter

This newsletter is published by HMRC’s Pension Schemes Services to update stakeholders on the latest news for pension schemes.

Revenue and Customs briefs

These are briefs announcing changes in policy or setting out the legal background to an issue. They generally have a short lifespan, as announced changes are incorporated into permanent guidance and the brief is then removed.

Agent Forum and Engagement

Agent Online Forum issues escalated by the Issues Overview Group (IOG)

Others — 21180 Agent Maintainer Team (AMT): Management of the AMT met with members of the IOG to outline changes to the team and receive feedback from the group. A review of AMT operations is underway. An update will be provided to IOG Members in February.

Others — 20861 Income Record Viewer (IRV): Following a discussion at the last Representative Bodies Steering Group (RBSG) Professional Bodies met with HMRC colleagues responsible for the IRV at the January meeting of the Virtual Communications Group (VCG), to discuss operation and communications around the IRV. Future plans include the provision of screen shots to aid navigation.

SA —11680 (IOG): HMRC emails that cannot be linked to a client: Thank you to the agents who have proved examples of where, email acknowledgement are received without client references. Testing on whether a solution is possible, necessitates tracking examples across multiple HMRC systems before the data expires to meet GDPR requirements. Apologies to those agents who have provided examples already, however further examples within a 14-day period of receipt are required, to enable sequential testing through multiple systems before the data expires. Please email examples within 14 days to agentforum.wt@hmrc.gov.uk.

Closing Agent Forum posts within 5 days

Agent Online Forum (AOF) members are reminded, that the primary focus of the AOF is to provide evidence to support identification and resolution of potential systemic issues impacting the tax system. Threads that are not within the scope of the AOF being primarily comment and opinion rather than evidence to support issue resolution, may be closed within the normal 5-day period for ending threads. Guidance around closing posts can be viewed in Agent Update 100.

IOG Escalated issues - Closed and closed under active investigation posts

Guidance on IOG Escalated Issues - closed and closed under active investigation posts can be viewed in Agent Update 102. IOG members have requested a discussion on how the latter are reviewed to ensure the active investigation status, including receipt of new evidence, is still valid ie, should these posts be closed or an update on investigation provided.

Agent authentication

The Agent Digital Design Advisory Group (ADDAG) comprising of Professional Bodies and Agents met in January. The group welcomed the outline of HMRC work during 2023 to understand more about options on improving agent authentication. Members requested continued agent input on the design of systems, particularly multifactor authentication, and the potential impact on agents.

VAT Insolvency meeting

A recommendation from the bespoke Representative Bodies Steering Group (RBSG) in December, was to hold a separate meeting to consider issues specific to Insolvency Practitioners. The first of a series of such meetings was held in January.

Contact Information for professional and representative bodies

If you are not a member of a professional body, please contact the Agent Engagement Mailbox.

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