.png)
.png)
Editor's welcome
Last year I ended my preface with the words We are a robust profession – there will be bumps and scrapes along the way, but I am sure that we will cope with everything that is thrown at us. After all, it can’t be worse than Covid-19 can it? I suppose that nothing will ever quite compare with the pandemic, but tax practitioners had plenty more bumps and scrapes to deal with. After all who could have predicted that 2022 would be the year of two Monarchs, three Prime Ministers and four (assuming the removal vans don’t turn up at 11 Downing Street between my writing this and your reading it!) Chancellors of the Exchequer. We have had to cope with the twists and turns of what seemed at times to be weekly fiscal events – I’ve lost track of how many there were – with U-turns that nobody would have thought possible.
Tax advisers up and down the country have done a superb job in keeping their clients informed about the changes and what they mean. Running a tax practice of whatever size is hard enough at the best so I take my hats off to everybody who has managed to continue to provide excellent client services in times of bewildering change. Surely we will return to some sort of stability in 2023. I for one certainly hope so.
Last year I reflected on MTD and many of our contributors have given us their experience of how things have gone this year. I continue to be concerned that the whole project has lost its way. I am a very strong supporter of the principle of digitally based tax administration. Properly done it should give great advantage to clients, agents and HMRC alike. But there has been very little discernible progress this year and further problem areas – such as error correction – have become apparent. It is now seven years since the death of the tax return was announced. The digital world has changed beyond all recognition since then, but MTD seems stuck in the same place. Surely it is time for a fundamental rethink.
I hope that you enjoy reading this very useful snapshot of some of the challenges and opportunities facing the tax profession as we go into 2023. Tax advisers are a resilient bunch and it is great to see people rolling up their sleeves and facing up to all of the challenges that HMRC, the economy and (let’s be honest) some clients throw at us. But please – let’s have a quieter year in 2023.
Yours in hope if not in expectation.
Andrew Hubbard, editor-in-chief
For a full pdf of the Toolkit, please click here.
To view this year's virtual issue, please click here.
