The Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) has published its first three-year corporate plan for the period 2019/20 to 2021/22. The WRA estimates revenues from land transaction tax and landfill disposals tax will reach more than £1bn by the end of this period.
The plan sets out the WRA’s key objectives for the next three years, which are to:
make it easier to pay the right amount of tax;
be fair and consistent in the way tax is collected and managed;
be more efficient and delivering in a way that is sustainable and value for money; and
develop individual and collective capability.
The authority has also set itself a series of performance measures to identify how effectively the tax system in Wales is operating. These cover:
how well digital services are used, looking at the proportion of tax returns filed and payments made digitally;
how people find dealing with the WRA, using feedback in the first half of 2019/20 to establish a baseline and explain the nature of complaints;
how WRA has supported people to get their tax right, looking at the change over time in the proportion of tax returns either not flagged by a risk profile, or not subject to an amendment which changes the amount of tax due;
how WRA has reduced the scope for tax risk, looking at the number of people making errors, estimated tax lost or overpaid, the tax recovered or repaid, and actions to prevent future tax loss;
timeliness of filing and payment by taxpayers, and of repayments and refunds by WRA;
extent of automation allowing transactions to be completed successfully without manual intervention;
WRA staff engagement;
WRA skill mix, comprising number of professions, proportion of Welsh speakers, and staff development; and
The Welsh minster for finance, Rebecca Evans, has issued a written statement on an error by HMRC in issuing new ‘C’ tax codes for the Welsh rates of income tax applicable to taxpayers living in Wales.
HMRC has alerted the Welsh government to the fact that some taxpayers living in Wales have received a Scottish ‘S’ code and, as a result, have paid Scottish rates of income tax in April. This affects a number of employers, including some UK government departments and agencies, although HMRC is unable for the time being to confirm the full extent of the error or the total number of taxpayers affected.
HMRC has confirmed that the error will be resolved ahead of the payroll processing for May, with any over or underpayments incorrectly applied in April being rectified at that point. The amounts of any underpayments or overpayments of tax will be small, ranging between £2 and £10.
HMRC expects to undertake a comprehensive check in early June and will re-issue ‘C’ codes where necessary. A second check will take place in September to help prevent any persistent errors in ‘C’ code allocation.
The minister intends to make a further statement once HMRC has completed its check in June. See bit.ly/2JmCyfm.
The Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) has published its first three-year corporate plan for the period 2019/20 to 2021/22. The WRA estimates revenues from land transaction tax and landfill disposals tax will reach more than £1bn by the end of this period.
The plan sets out the WRA’s key objectives for the next three years, which are to:
make it easier to pay the right amount of tax;
be fair and consistent in the way tax is collected and managed;
be more efficient and delivering in a way that is sustainable and value for money; and
develop individual and collective capability.
The authority has also set itself a series of performance measures to identify how effectively the tax system in Wales is operating. These cover:
how well digital services are used, looking at the proportion of tax returns filed and payments made digitally;
how people find dealing with the WRA, using feedback in the first half of 2019/20 to establish a baseline and explain the nature of complaints;
how WRA has supported people to get their tax right, looking at the change over time in the proportion of tax returns either not flagged by a risk profile, or not subject to an amendment which changes the amount of tax due;
how WRA has reduced the scope for tax risk, looking at the number of people making errors, estimated tax lost or overpaid, the tax recovered or repaid, and actions to prevent future tax loss;
timeliness of filing and payment by taxpayers, and of repayments and refunds by WRA;
extent of automation allowing transactions to be completed successfully without manual intervention;
WRA staff engagement;
WRA skill mix, comprising number of professions, proportion of Welsh speakers, and staff development; and
The Welsh minster for finance, Rebecca Evans, has issued a written statement on an error by HMRC in issuing new ‘C’ tax codes for the Welsh rates of income tax applicable to taxpayers living in Wales.
HMRC has alerted the Welsh government to the fact that some taxpayers living in Wales have received a Scottish ‘S’ code and, as a result, have paid Scottish rates of income tax in April. This affects a number of employers, including some UK government departments and agencies, although HMRC is unable for the time being to confirm the full extent of the error or the total number of taxpayers affected.
HMRC has confirmed that the error will be resolved ahead of the payroll processing for May, with any over or underpayments incorrectly applied in April being rectified at that point. The amounts of any underpayments or overpayments of tax will be small, ranging between £2 and £10.
HMRC expects to undertake a comprehensive check in early June and will re-issue ‘C’ codes where necessary. A second check will take place in September to help prevent any persistent errors in ‘C’ code allocation.
The minister intends to make a further statement once HMRC has completed its check in June. See bit.ly/2JmCyfm.
