Posted: 04 February 2010
Issue: Vol 165, Issue 4242
Categories: News, Update, Other
Keywords: Working with Tax Agents

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One month remaining for responses to consultation

There is just one month left to respond to the latest consultation on the relationship between advisers and HMRC, the department warned today.

Working with Tax Agents: the Next Stage was launched at the pre-Budget report in December to look at how the Revenue ‘interacts with tax agents to ensure that their clients’ returns and claims are correct when submitted’.

It is the follow-up to a consultation published last April, which was widely criticised within the tax sector for highlighting the taxman’s distrust of agents, who commentators claimed would be either laden with additional regulatory burdens or forced to leave the UK.

The current document invites views on greater disclosure by HMRC to professional bodies when there is evidence of members’ poor technical performance or unprofessional conduct.

It also seeks opinions on modernised ways to tackle deliberate wrongdoing by tax agents – including access to working papers, a tax geared penalty and greater publicity – and high-volume agents who make large numbers of claims that have little or no merit.

Wednesday 3 March is the deadline for responses, which can be sent via email or by post: HMRC Review of Powers, Room 1/72, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ.

The Revenue’s permanent secretary for tax, Dave Hartnett, said there was ‘a clear case for powers that are carefully focused on the small minority of agents whose approach to their work brings the profession as a whole into disrepute’.

He added: ‘If taxpayers are to get the standard of service they deserve we have to work with agents in an open and positive atmosphere. This consultation is about achieving that.’

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