HMRC are set to hold a series of live webinars for tax agents and advisers throughout June and July.
The first session, scheduled for Wednesday (18 June), will provide practical guidance on how penalties will be applied under the existing regime for inaccuracies in information in documents and returns supplied to the Revenue.
The webinars will run for approximately 45 minutes to cover:
HMRC should design all future services with agents in mind, says review
HMRC are offering online tutorials to help landlords understand when and how to pay tax on property they let out.
The digital training pack is part of the Revenue’s let property campaign launched in September.
The disclosure opportunity aims at people who rent out residential property and have either not registered to pay tax, under-declared their earnings or under-paid tax.
Mothers’ Union (TC3414)
M Haynes Ltd (TC3418)
The government must exercise caution in its plans to take the tax system online, according to the new president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT).
Anne Fairpo, who succeeds Stephen Coleclough, believes “wild enthusiasm for the wonders of technology [ought to be] tempered with practical reality”, not least because not everyone wants to deal with their own tax affairs digitally.
The first complete tax year under real-time information (RTI) for the majority of employers worked well, with only one major problem, according to the taxman.
HMRC have been conducting weekly end-of-year teleconferences with employer representatives since 31 March, at the request of Payroll Alliance, the LexisNexis service.
The department says information for 2014/2014 flowed through to its systems as expected, with the only significant obstacle being the Government Gateway server crash on 11 April.
Administrators can report transfers of sums and assets from UK-registered pension schemes to qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (QROPS) using the online service launched in December.
But some schemes, including retirement annuity contracts and executive pension plans that were approved before 6 April 2006, have no pension scheme tax reference code that can be used to gain online access, meaning administrators need to first digitally register each scheme before reporting transfers.
RTI guidance updated
HMRC have fixed a problem with their business tax dashboard that caused employment records to merge on the department’s systems.
The error hit some firms that employed a work to do more than one job within the same PAYE scheme, and resulted in erroneous consolidation of the separate employments.
Affected accounts were incorrect on the business tax dashboard – but the Revenue has updated the employer records, which will be displayed as follows:
HMRC are set to introduce enhanced functionality to their toolkits as part of the department’s annual maintenance cycle to review and refresh content.
The move follows requests by tax agents for means to complete the checklist section for a client and then have the option to save it electronically or print it.
The first two toolkits to be upgraded will be those that cover expenses and benefits from employment and National Insurance contributions and statutory payments. Both are due to be published on 6 April.
Peebles Baptist Church (TC3204)