In the news: March 2023

‘Alison Hobbs, chair of the digital strategy committee of the CIOT and the ATT, said the delay “had to happen” owing to “incredibly limited testing” of MTD and the “significant problems still to be resolved”… A survey of tax professionals carried out by CIOT and ATT earlier this month found that 97% of tax agents were uncomfortable with the low level of taxpayer awareness of MTD.’

Financial Times, 20 December

‘If call connection services are not found to be in breach of their industry Code of Practice, they can continue to operate. LITRG is therefore also urging people to be vigilant.’

Antonia Stokes of the LITRG, quoted in the Daily Telegraph, 5 Jan

‘John Stockdale, a technical officer at the CIOT, said that a rise in recent years in the number of people reporting the value of estates to HMRC personally – without using an adviser – may have led to more errors in application.’

Financial Times, 6 Jan

‘Susan Ball, president of the CIOT, said: “The delays that taxpayers and their advisers face are not acceptable. Our members tell us every day of the delays getting answers and action from HMRC.”’

The Times, 11 Jan. CIOT reaction to the Public Accounts Committee report was also covered by Sky News, the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times, among others.

‘John Cullinane, director of public policy at the CIOT, said Brexit had added “significantly” to the workload of the tax authorities. “Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine have required HMRC to reallocate people from their existing work, leaving other areas badly stretched,” he said. “These things came on top of long-running tendencies for governments to introduce tax policy changes tending to lengthen the tax code and complicate the system.”’

Financial Times, 17 Jan

‘“Due to ongoing processing delays with probate applications, executors are losing the opportunity to claim relief from IHT,” the ATT told parliament in a letter this month, requesting changes be made in the upcoming Budget on March 15. “The ATT therefore considers that the current 12 month window is too short and needs to be extended ... on a permanent or temporary basis,” the letter said.’

Financial Times, 8 Feb