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Vulnerable taxpayers are to be offered a mobile HMRC support service in place of the current enquiry centres, which have seen demand plunge by more than half over recent years.

The new initiative for those who need extra help with their tax affairs will be tested in the summer, providing one-to-one support in a range of locations, including individual’s homes and businesses. Specially trained advisers will also be available by phone.

The ICAEW Tax Faculty has issued proposals on how service issues might be handled by HMRC in future. They suggestions were prompted by the reorganisation at the Revenue that will create a new role for the joint initiative on service delivery group, but see the end of the Working Together steering group.

The faculty is concerned the changes could lead to agents and professional bodies losing the ability to monitor and influence the progress of issues referred to the taxman.

The term “ordinarily resident” has been removed from regulation 15 of the Capital Gains Tax Regulations 1967, under newly published draft regulations that have also eliminated the requirement that a person must be resident or ordinarily resident or carry on a trade in the UK to be joined as a third party to an appeal or make an application to be joined.

J Jackson (TC2448)

HMRC are encouraging new firms to register for VAT digitally, rather than on paper, citing the advantage of on-screen assistance and an immediate acknowledgment that the taxman has received the application.

The business will be automatically enrolled to the Revenue's VAT online service, to allow submission of returns, and the certificate of registration will be available online.

S Brand (TC2434)

Week-long Twitter Q&A for new system; Employer Bulletin 43 summarised

1 April

• Payment of corporation tax liabilities for small/medium-sized companies account period ended 30 June 2012.
• Reduction in main rate of corporation tax to 23%.
• Change to emission thresholds for business cars.
• Reclaim 2011/12 Class 1 NICs paid incorrectly because income has been recategorised as self-employment.
• Application to defer Class 2 or 4 NICs for 2011/12 or claim exception for 2012/13.
• Multiple contractors to advise HMRC that they wish to be treated as a single contractor for 2013/14.

By Keith Gordon; £95; published by Bloomsbury Professional; paperback; fourth edition; 354 pages

Are organisations really dodging tax, or are they just following the rules?

The average waiting time for taxpayers calling the Revenue in January was almost two-and-a-half minutes, according to the Exchequer secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke.

The MP told the Commons that two minutes and 23 seconds was the typical duration in which a caller had to hang on the line before speaking to an adviser, having selected an option from the interactive voice recognition (IVR) message menu. It did not include the time spent listening to the automated messages.

Tax evaders are being named by HMRC for the first time online. The Revenue has published a first batch of information about “deliberate defaulters” on its website, as officials make use of powers granted by Finance Act 2009, s 94 to warn taxpayers against neglecting their obligations.