.png)
.png)
HMRC’s consultation document Establishing the Future Relationship Between the Tax Agent Community and HMRC contains proposals relating to ‘the practical implementation of HMRC’s strategy for engaging with tax agents in the future, focusing particularly on the relationship with paid, professional tax agents’.
At 40 pages, we strongly recommend that practitioners read the consultation in full; the executive summary follows, and readers can submit their responses via Taxation's online form.
Executive summary
‘Tax agents play a vital role in the delivery of the tax system which could not function effectively without them. They provide invaluable support to many taxpayers to help them comply with their tax obligations. The term ‘tax agent’ is not defined for the purposes of engagement with HMRC and tax agents include those in business to provide services, those who act in a voluntary capacity and those who support others as a friend or family member.
‘HMRC currently requires a very limited amount of information beyond the explicit consent of the customer in order for an agent to act on their behalf. As a result many of HMRC’s processes do not at present distinguish or positively reflect the appointment of a professional tax agent. For example, professional tax agents are subject to the same security processes as an individual and do not benefit from a business-based relationship with HMRC. Additionally, HMRC is currently unable to identify and target support to the minority of agents who fall below the high professional standards expected by the tax agent community.
‘Working with representatives of the tax agent community, HMRC has looked at the relationship HMRC, tax agents and their clients should aspire to over the coming years. Those discussions have identified some principles which should govern the relationship between agents and HMRC as well as two main areas for development: agent self serve – underpinned by enrolment to provide secure access to new online services, and understanding the total engagement of individual agents to target relevant support and in some cases improve standards.
‘HMRC has developed a strategy that seeks to differentiate services between agents in business and those who support individuals, family and friends on an unpaid basis, and to engage with agents in a more informed way. The strategy does not seek to change the relationship between the client, agent or HMRC but rather to improve the quality of service for all agents, reduce costs for both agents and HMRC and make it easier for customers to accurately comply with obligations. The strategy envisages:
- secure enrolment and segmentation of tax agents to differentiate between those who are in business and those in the voluntary sector or acting on behalf of friends and family;
- reducing time and cost for all parties by making it easier for all agents to access the services they need and by increasing their ability to self-serve on behalf of clients where appropriate;
- tailoring HMRC’s support services to paid, professional agents to reflect the compliance risks inherent in their client portfolio;
- providing additional support for agents whose own standards are below those expected in the professional community;
- tackling more effectively those few agents who are found to be acting dishonestly.
‘This consultation document sets out proposals and options for implementing the first four bullets above, and seeks views on the scope, pace and practicality of any changes. As announced in Budget 2011, there will be a separate consultation later this year on legislative changes relating to the final bullet above.
‘HMRC believes that these proposals will bring significant time and cost benefits to agents as well as supporting its aims to improve voluntary compliance and to operate more efficiently. HMRC would welcome views from across the agent community to inform the development of future services over the period of the current spending review to April 2015 and beyond.’
Comments, please
As explained by HMRC’s Brian Redford, the department is keen to get a wide range of feedback.
The consultation document has four sets of questions – based on the condoc and cross-referenced to sections of Brian’s article – for which HMRC would like to receive answers, and Taxation plans to put forward readers’ views in a formal response.
We would ask readers to complete the questionnaire via this website.
The closing date for comments to be made to HMRC is 16 September 2011 but we ask that replies be submitted to Taxation by 31 August, to allow time for them to be reviewed and summarised for the Revenue.
