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The arrival of the Office of Tax Simplification’s update on guidance (tinyurl.com/otsevalhmrcguiapr) was opportune as I was in the middle of reviewing the Readers’ Forum question on the obligation to notify when no tax was due (page 29). The querist pointed out that the advice online was contradictory. This is due in part to differences in terminology but also reflects the different audiences for the various sources. For a person with little tax knowledge, GOV.UK may be helpful. It talks about ‘setting up as a sole trader’, which is more intuitive than ‘notifying chargeability’. The page entitled ‘filing your self-assessment return online’ refers to registering for self assessment. The concept does not exist in tax law but the page tells you what you need to do and, in most cases, you will end up in the right place.
The forum question was simple and I expected to find the answer immediately. But it was surprisingly difficult, not least because of ambiguities in language: ‘chargeable to tax’ means different things to different people. It is incredibly difficult to write straightforward guidance for general use. Tax expertise is essential, but my experience tells me how difficult it is to get into the mindset of a general reader. Technical jargon is so much part of our normal vocabulary that we don’t realise that we are using it.
HMRC has made good progress in the material it produces for the general public and I welcome the continued commitments it has made about this. Achieving a balance between accuracy and readability is a huge challenge, but one well worth tackling.
