Tax risk focused announcements were less prominent than in previous years’ Budgets, but there were still some proposals of note.
As expected, referring to the widely held mantra that everyone must pay their fair share of tax, the Chancellor announced that additional investment would be made available to HMRC to take action to close the tax gap. This is with the aim of raising an additional £4.5bn by 2028/29. Little further detail has been provided other than to say that a particular focus will be on supporting taxpayers out of tax debt faster. We hope that the additional investment will result in the hire by HMRC of additional, and well trained, personnel who can support and accelerate ongoing compliance work and reverse the trend of prolonged enquiries which create uncertainty and expense for responsible taxpayers.
The government has launched a consultation on raising standards in the tax advice market through a strengthened regulatory framework. This follows from an earlier call for evidence on raising standards. Advice from unregulated advisers can range from negligent to dishonest and undermines the integrity of the tax system; we welcome the government’s commitment to address this and to engage with industry. Of the three alternative proposals as to who should act as regulator, we agree that membership of a professional regulated body for tax practitioners is critical. The final proposal that an independent, statutory, body should be established as regulator raises a number of questions. This approach, which would introduce an additional level of regulation for the significant majority of advisers who are already members of professional bodies, is likely to involve uncertainty, risk, complexity and expense and it is not yet clear to what purpose? Further thought should also be given to the separate proposal included in the consultation to introduce a registration requirement for agents dealing with HMRC; this may introduce unnecessary complexity and bureaucracy.
Home >Articles > Spring Budget 2024: Mitigating tax risk - time to join a professional body?
Spring Budget 2024: Mitigating tax risk - time to join a professional body?
Tax risk focused announcements were less prominent than in previous years’ Budgets, but there were still some proposals of note.
As expected, referring to the widely held mantra that everyone must pay their fair share of tax, the Chancellor announced that additional investment would be made available to HMRC to take action to close the tax gap. This is with the aim of raising an additional £4.5bn by 2028/29. Little further detail has been provided other than to say that a particular focus will be on supporting taxpayers out of tax debt faster. We hope that the additional investment will result in the hire by HMRC of additional, and well trained, personnel who can support and accelerate ongoing compliance work and reverse the trend of prolonged enquiries which create uncertainty and expense for responsible taxpayers.
The government has launched a consultation on raising standards in the tax advice market through a strengthened regulatory framework. This follows from an earlier call for evidence on raising standards. Advice from unregulated advisers can range from negligent to dishonest and undermines the integrity of the tax system; we welcome the government’s commitment to address this and to engage with industry. Of the three alternative proposals as to who should act as regulator, we agree that membership of a professional regulated body for tax practitioners is critical. The final proposal that an independent, statutory, body should be established as regulator raises a number of questions. This approach, which would introduce an additional level of regulation for the significant majority of advisers who are already members of professional bodies, is likely to involve uncertainty, risk, complexity and expense and it is not yet clear to what purpose? Further thought should also be given to the separate proposal included in the consultation to introduce a registration requirement for agents dealing with HMRC; this may introduce unnecessary complexity and bureaucracy.
