HMRC should improve tax agents’ compliance by providing more support to those experiencing difficulties and applying sanctions where performance is poor, the National Audit Office report concluded.
Tax professionals have reacted angrily to a National Audit Office report suggesting that tax returns prepared by agents are more likely to understate liabilities than returns filed by taxpayers who do not have an agent, that paying for professional help is ‘not without risk for a taxpayer’, and t
Government proposals to improve the operation of PAYE – particularly the ‘ultimate goal’ of centralised deductions – merit further exploration, the Chartered Institute of Taxation said.
‘We have to question what it is that the introduction of a GAAR would really achieve,’ the CIOT has told HMRC.
HMRC has updated its introduction to the scheme, to reflect the legislation and HMRC online guidance as at 20 September. See www.lexisurl.com/Z2IP0.
HMRC issued a further reminder that anyone completing a self assessment tax return on paper must deliver the return by 31 October or face a £100 penalty.
Updated HMRC guidance, see www.lexisurl.com/GbHbz, sets out which figures in an online VAT return are calculated automatically.
HMRC announced the release of three additional toolkits setting out how agents can reduce the likelihood of mistakes occurring in the preparation of clients' tax returns.
Adam Craggs and Jonathan Wood look at the Australian and US mediation experiences, and ask if they offer any lessons for the UK
Richard Clarke and Hannah Foulkes examine the effectiveness of recent HMRC initiatives