Staff news

We are delighted to report that we have two new staff members. 

Adelle Greenwood has joined the Tax Faculty to support Peter Bickley on employment taxes and national insurance contributions (NIC) and to take over as manager of the Employment Tax and NIC Committee. Adelle has worked in tax for approximately 20 years and has held employment tax and global mobility roles at PwC, KPMG and Global Tax Network. 

We also welcomed Katherine Ford to the faculty staff team at the start of August. Katherine will primarily work with the Private Client Committee but is already getting involved in other projects. Katherine transferred to the Tax Faculty from ICAEW’s professional standards team, where she was a tax specialist case manager. Prior to joining ICAEW, Katherine was a tax advisory manager on Markel’s telephone advice line.

Engagement with government 

On 12 September, faculty staff attended a round-table meeting with the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray MP, to discuss what should be included in the forthcoming business tax roadmap, which will focus on corporation tax. Participants stressed the need for stability, certainty and the restoration of trust in the tax system. It was also stressed that businesses typically plan for the long term, but need clarity on the tax treatment before investments are made. The faculty followed this up with a letter highlighting key areas that we think should be included in the roadmap. 

HMRC service standards

As reported last month, ICAEW and the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) are working on a joint project to produce an evidence-based report on how member firms are finding interacting with HMRC, focusing on the telephone and webchat services. During the month we rolled out the survey to more than 30 firms that have agreed to participate in the project, ranging from a Big Four firm to a sole practitioner. At the time of compiling this report we are about half-way through the six-week data gathering period. I would like to thank all the member firms participating in the project – their support is much appreciated. 

Representational and policy work

Faculty staff worked on a number of consultation responses during the month, including the proposed addition of VAT on private school fees and the abolition of the furnished holiday lettings rules. 

Stephen Relf attended a making tax digital income tax self assessment (MTD ITSA) event in Glasgow hosted by HMRC. The event was an opportunity for agents to learn more about MTD ITSA. HMRC staff were on hand to talk to agents about aspects of MTD ITSA and to demonstrate the systems in place for signing up clients to the pilot. The event concluded with a panel discussion in which Rebecca Benneyworth reflected on her experiences of participating in the pilot. HMRC will now consider whether similar events should be held in other parts of the country. 

Problems in the research and development (R&D) sector continue to be a major cause of members’ concerns and frustration. During the month faculty staff and active members continued to engage, along with colleagues in CIOT, with HMRC’s team responsible for R&D work, with the aim of improving processes for bona fide claims while helping to ensure that non-compliant claims are weeded out of the system. 

Faculty staff also attended meetings of a number of HMRC’s other regular forums including the Joint Customs Consultative Committee, the Agent Digital Design Advisory Group and the Virtual Communications Working Group. 

Ed Saltmarsh and volunteers from the Duties Committee attended a round table with HMRC’s Single Trade Window (STW) team. After receiving a demonstration of the STW in its current form, members fed back to HMRC on the functionality that needed to be built as soon as possible to make the STW useful to traders and their agents. 

Faculty staff and colleagues from ICAEW’s Tech and Ethics teams attended the first ICAEW Tax Faculty Artificial Intelligence (AI) Working Group Meeting. There was discussion of the opportunities and state of adoption of AI in tax, as well as the challenges firms are facing, and how they are addressing these challenges. The working party will also be looking at the use of AI by HMRC. A set of questions to be explored is being developed. 

Faculty staff, along with representatives from the Tax Policy & Reputation Committee, met with HMRC officials to discuss the wording of a new ‘Guideline for compliance’ (GfC) currently being drafted and consulted on by HMRC. The GfC is designed to help taxpayers and agents to determine whether tax returns and declarations are correct and complete to the best of the signatory’s knowledge. Based on the feedback given, HMRC agreed to revisit the wording and share a revised draft.

Raising standards, regulation and the PCRT

On 2 September, Lindsey Wicks and I attended a meeting of the pan-professional body that oversees the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PCRT). Topics discussed included how the PCRT might be reconciled with the final International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) pronouncement on tax planning, which is due to come into effect in June 2025. It was agreed that an approach should be made to IESBA to request a round-table meeting with them at which the PCRT bodies would share proposals as to how the two documents may be reconciled. Other topics discussed included progress on revising the R&D topical guidance and whether the PCRT should be amended to reflect the development of tax in AI. It was agreed to convene a working group to examine the latter and make proposals. 

The Raising Standards consultation included a proposal for HMRC to improve its agent registration process and to make it compulsory for all paid agents to register with HMRC. As part of this work, Lindsey Wicks participated in an ‘Improving Agent Registration Co-design Session’ with HMRC. This was part of a discovery phase for HMRC to make the case for funding. The aim is to create a single registration route for agents to be able to access HMRC services rather than the 19 different systems that exist currently.

Faculty staff also joined colleagues from ICAEW’s Professional Standards Department for a one-day visit from HMRC. The visit was a follow-up to the above consultation. The purpose of the day was to allow the Professional Standards Department to demonstrate to HMRC the work that ICAEW performs as an improvement regulator to maintain and improve standards in its membership.

Tax Faculty and other meetings

During the month there were meetings of the Tax Faculty Board, the Tax Policy and Reputation Committee, the Technical and Oversight Committee, the Private Client Committee and the Practitioner Tax Committee. We also provided an update on tax developments to ICAEW’s Practice Committee.

ICAEW and CIOT held a number of meetings to discuss the HMRC service standards project (see item above) and other matters.

Faculty staff attended the House of Lords launch of the Social Market Foundation report on ecommerce and ways to boost small company exports. The event also celebrated the granting of chartered status to the Institute of Export and International Trade.

Tax representations

ICAEW Representation 65/24 Autumn Budget 2024 Representation

ICAEW Representation 66/24 R&D Briefing for MPs

ICAEW Representation 67/24 Applying VAT to Private School Fees

ICAEW Representation 68/24 Furnished holiday lettings tax regime abolition

Webinars, events and podcasts

Our monthly podcast series The Tax Track continues to gather new listeners and get good feedback and engagement. In the latest episode, Faculty staff Lindsey Wicks, Katherine Ford and Stephen Relf discuss the abolition of the furnished holiday lettings rules for tax.