HMRC are set to begin a six-month trial of a new, single compliance process for enquiries across a range of taxes.
A new framework setting out four ‘levels of intensity’ for compliance checks for income tax, corporation tax, PAYE and VAT will ‘avoid any perceived “fishing expeditions” and help to reduce the emotional burden to the customer in that the check will only take as long as the risks or behaviours dictate,’ HMRC said.
But the CIOT’s technical team has indicated that it is discussing with HMRC some ‘concerns’ about the initiative, and Baker Tilly expressed surprise at the announcement of the new pilot given the criticism HMRC received for ‘failing to adequately publicise’ their recent pilot on Business Records Checks.
‘Once a taxpayer has been identified, HMRC will in many cases seek a visit at the taxpayer’s business premises,’ Baker Tilly said. ‘The evidence is that visits to taxpayers involving officers from both the old “Revenue” side and the old “Customs” side do not work particularly well.’
The firm said businesses will be unsure ‘if and how [the new approach] will affect them’, and may be concerned that HMRC are ‘planning to turn up on their doorstep’.
‘The pilot is focused on what HMRC term the “Local Compliance – SME” sector, which means any business that is not “large” in HMRC terms,’ the firm added.
David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘We know that agents, individuals and businesses find some of HMRC’s current compliance practices drawn out and costly.’
HMRC are working with tax agents to develop the process, via the Compliance Reform Forum, he added. The Forum includes the leading professional bodies.
‘We are working directly with a representative group of agents and via the HMRC Compliance Reform Forum and are now starting to come out and speak with agents through the Working Together forums,’ said an HMRC note published on the CIOT website.
Minutes of the Compliance Reform Forum’s meetings are published on the HMRC website. The last meeting was held in February 2011 but the minutes have not yet been published.
The trial will run from 1 June in Reading, Slough, Newcastle, Warrington, York, Exeter, London Euston, Southampton, Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh and Dundee. If it is successful, the new process will be ‘rolled out nationally’ from January 2012.
HMRC are set to begin a six-month trial of a new, single compliance process for enquiries across a range of taxes.
A new framework setting out four ‘levels of intensity’ for compliance checks for income tax, corporation tax, PAYE and VAT will ‘avoid any perceived “fishing expeditions” and help to reduce the emotional burden to the customer in that the check will only take as long as the risks or behaviours dictate,’ HMRC said.
But the CIOT’s technical team has indicated that it is discussing with HMRC some ‘concerns’ about the initiative, and Baker Tilly expressed surprise at the announcement of the new pilot given the criticism HMRC received for ‘failing to adequately publicise’ their recent pilot on Business Records Checks.
‘Once a taxpayer has been identified, HMRC will in many cases seek a visit at the taxpayer’s business premises,’ Baker Tilly said. ‘The evidence is that visits to taxpayers involving officers from both the old “Revenue” side and the old “Customs” side do not work particularly well.’
The firm said businesses will be unsure ‘if and how [the new approach] will affect them’, and may be concerned that HMRC are ‘planning to turn up on their doorstep’.
‘The pilot is focused on what HMRC term the “Local Compliance – SME” sector, which means any business that is not “large” in HMRC terms,’ the firm added.
David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘We know that agents, individuals and businesses find some of HMRC’s current compliance practices drawn out and costly.’
HMRC are working with tax agents to develop the process, via the Compliance Reform Forum, he added. The Forum includes the leading professional bodies.
‘We are working directly with a representative group of agents and via the HMRC Compliance Reform Forum and are now starting to come out and speak with agents through the Working Together forums,’ said an HMRC note published on the CIOT website.
Minutes of the Compliance Reform Forum’s meetings are published on the HMRC website. The last meeting was held in February 2011 but the minutes have not yet been published.
The trial will run from 1 June in Reading, Slough, Newcastle, Warrington, York, Exeter, London Euston, Southampton, Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh and Dundee. If it is successful, the new process will be ‘rolled out nationally’ from January 2012.
