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The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has recently published a scoping document about hybrid and distance working which raises some important issues (tinyurl.com/otshdwscdoc) – see also the report aside.
When I log into a Zoom meeting nobody knows whether I am at home or at some exotic location on the other side of the world. I am (in case my employer is reading this) happy to confirm that I am writing this in the UK, but the possibilities are endless.
One of my editorials a few years ago was actually written on the train from Beijing to Shanghai while I was in China visiting my son. Everything, from the research to the writing to the sending of the email to the Taxation office was done between getting on and getting off the train.
Organisations are having to review their policies to cater for the likelihood that staff may well want to work abroad. The odd couple of weeks probably doesn’t matter but there does come a point – perhaps different for different organisations – where alarm bells start ringing.
Certainly tax is one of those, and if the work started here by the OTS does lead to some greater clarity then it will be widely welcomed.
Technology has changed so rapidly that some of the basic building blocks of the tax system are looking vulnerable. We were all brought up on the rules for home-to-work travel and the restrictive regime for working-at-home expenses. How will they work in a world where, for many people, there is no hard and fast division between the home and the workplace?
There are undoubtedly many future challenges ahead to keep the OTS busy.
If you do one thing...
Read HMRC’s FAQs on errors in coronavirus job retention scheme claims – see tinyurl.com/976arzht.
