Tax campaigners urge HMRC to strengthen guidance

The Chartered Institute of Taxation’s Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has published a new report to help HMRC improve the way it provides guidance to taxpayers.

The paper – Good guidance: The importance of effective guidance for unrepresented taxpayers – says good guidance is essential for the tax system to function effectively and that it is especially important for low-income taxpayers many of whom may be unable to afford professional tax advice.

The report considers the role of guidance in a well-functioning tax system and examines the question of what makes good guidance. It sets out 40 recommendations to improve how guidance is developed and then communicated to the public with the aim of ensuring that good guidance is for example:

• clear accessible comprehensive and technically accurate;
• user-tested with examples to help taxpayers understand their obligations; and
• regularly updated...