Areas of concern in relation to high volume repayment agents

Measures to raise standards among all tax agents is to be encouraged says the Chartered Institute of Taxation but adds that these must be looked at in the context of the wider tax advice market.

In its response to HMRC’s consultation ‘Raising standards in tax advice: Protecting customers claiming tax repayments’ the institute says its ‘clear preference is that those providing tax services should be required to adhere to the rules and discipline of a professional body and that the government should challenge the professional bodies to address areas where there is evidence of lack of quality’.

The CIOT says while some high volume repayment agents operate to a high standard and fill a gap in the market there are ‘undoubtedly areas of concern’ in relation to them. It considers that customer protection safeguards around the high volume repayment business model are necessary. In...