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An item in a recent RSM newsletter drew my attention to something I had not seen before: HMRC’s list of external research projects for 2021-22 (tinyurl.com/hmrcextres). I counted 34 items, which show the vast range of HMRC’s work – from Chinese online marketplace sellers to museum and galleries tax relief.
Of more direct interest to readers will be two areas which create real difficulties for clients. The first is ‘exploring the tax challenges faced by “hybrid” taxpayers’ – those treated as individuals and businesses by HMRC. Over the years I have often discussed with HMRC the way that the self-employed can fall through the gap between the personal tax and business tax arms of HMRC. Self-employed workers fall into both categories, and often responsibility for them, both at policy and operational level, gets lost in the system. This is clearly a valuable area for research.
The other area which caught my attention was ‘emerging contract trends in the labour market’, which is concerned with individuals whose work contracts allow them to set their own working pattern, and to accept or decline work being offered by their engager. This is a crucial area of the economy and I doubt that anybody, whether in government, HMRC or the profession, could say that our current tax system copes well with this massive shift in the labour market.
