‘20 Years of HMRC’ conference

James Murray MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (XST), delivered the keynote address at the joint ICAEW and Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) event ‘20 Years of HMRC: reflections and looking ahead’. The XST used his speech to make a number of announcements, including a new agent query resolution service and a change to self assessment criteria for trading income. 

During the conference, which was hosted at Chartered Accountants’ Hall, the XST met with Alan Vallance, ICAEW Chief Executive; Malcolm Bacchus, President; Alison Ring, Director of Public Sector and Taxation; the CIOT leadership, and the incoming Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of HMRC, John-Paul Marks.

ICAEW also welcomed Treasury Select Committee Chair, Dame Meg Hillier MP; former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rt Hon David Gauke; and former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court, who contributed to panel and breakout sessions.

You can learn more about the event by reading the article The future of a tax administration authority and by listening to the podcast Happy birthday, HMRC. 

HMRC service performance

Lindsey Wicks, Senior Technical Manager – Tax Policy, and Ed Saltmarsh, Technical Manager – VAT and Customs, and representatives from the CIOT, met with the XST and senior leadership from HMRC to discuss the joint ICAEW and CIOT report Tackling HMRC’s customer service challenge, published in December 2024.

We are pleased by the consideration they have given to the report’s findings and welcomed the constructive discussion and shared desire to work collaboratively going forward to improve HMRC customer services. 

Making Tax Digital

ICAEW marked the 10th anniversary of Making Tax Digital (MTD) with an article and press release, setting out our position and continuing concerns. We also published an article on the day of the Spring Statement, explaining the announcements made by the government and expressing our concerns. A second article published on the day covers other announcements, including changes to late-payment penalties for MTD income tax and VAT.

We also met HMRC with CIOT, the Association of Tax Technicians and the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group to follow up on our letter to the XST about mandating the use of commercial software for the whole of the tax return for those in MTD. We raised our concerns about the lack of clear information about what different software products offer, including the fact that many of them are still in development and final investment decisions have not been made. 

We continue to update the MTD hub and plan support for members including MTD Live, webinars and other events. 

Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation

During the month we held some follow-up meetings of the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PCRT) bodies to finalise the proposed changes to the PCRT to create alignment with the new requirements published by the International Ethics Standards Board on tax planning and related services. There were also meetings of the three PCRT working parties considering the introduction of two new Topical Guidance Helpsheets on MTD and AI and the updating of an existing Topical Guidance Helpsheet on R&D tax credits. 

Professional standards and regulation

Alison Ring jointly presented a webinar with CIOT to more than 390 HMRC employees on the topic of what tax advisers do and how we are regulated. Feedback from attendees showed that the webinar was much needed as there are clear misunderstandings about the role of a tax professional. 

Other areas of significant activity

Ed Saltmarsh and Lindsey Wicks met with Treasury officials from the tax policy development teams. The tax team are strengthening relationships at HM Treasury and HMRC to encourage earlier consultation and collaboration on tax policy development.

Meetings with HMRC

During the month we attended a number of meetings with HMRC, some in conjunction with other representative bodies. These included:

• the Joint Customs Consultative Committee;
• the Issues Overview Group; and
• the Employment and Payroll Group.

There was also a special meeting to consider information sharing and confidentiality.

Representations and TAXguides

The Tax Faculty has published Representation 22-25 – Transforming business rates. The key points from the representation are summarised in the article Be bolder in reforming business rates, says ICAEW.

During the month we repurposed existing content on MTD into a new TAXguide (TAXguide 01/25: MTD income tax) and published a TAXguide setting out the payroll rates, allowances and thresholds for 2025/26 (TAXguide 02/25: Payroll rates, allowances and thresholds in 2025/26 | ICAEW).

Tax Faculty meetings

Meetings held during the month include the Tax Faculty Board, the Tax Policy and Reputation Committee, the Technical and Oversight Committee, the Practitioners’ Tax Committee, the Compliance and Investigations Committee and the Private Client Committee.

Faculty webinars, events and podcasts

Our monthly podcast series The Tax Track continues to gather new listeners and get good feedback and engagement. The latest episode was on the topic of the tax implications of crypto assets; it was hosted by Stephen Relf, Tax Manager, with contributions from Richard Jones, Senior Technical Manager – Business Taxation, and Dion Seymour, Crypto and Digital Asset Technical Director, Andersen.