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HMRC have announced the launch of their initiative to better understand the behaviour of poorly performing tax agents, which was put on hold earlier this year.
The pilot phase of the scheme to improve the relationship between the taxman and tax advisers is back on track after being suspended in August in reponse to concerns from the representative bodies on the Revenue’s Joint Tax Agent Strategy Steering Group of tax professionals.
Sixty advisers have been invited to test the model of the new strategy during meetings that will run for eight weeks and focus on self assessment.
All tax professionals were selected on the basis that either fewer than 80% of their clients have submitted returns on time, or more than 60% of their clients have paid their tax late. Advisers were excluded from the selection process when it became clear most of their work involved assisting clients with poor compliance histories, or if they were investigation specialists.
The purpose of the “agent view” meetings will be to look at why client data differs between adviser and HMRC. According to the department, the two parties will discuss what can be done to improve compliance and the help on offer from Revenue officers.
The taxman will also identify potential implications for fee protection insurance or personal indemnity insurance policy holders.
The information gathered by the initiative will not be made available to local inspectors, the HMRC have confirmed. The department and the Joint Tax Agent Strategy Steering Group are working on a code of practice for how the data will be used.
