The Law Society of England and Wales have responded to His
Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) policy paper and draft
legislation “Modernising and mandating tax adviser registration
with HMRC”.
Law Society president Richard Atkinson said: “As currently
framed, the draft legislation, is cast too widely and risks
imposing significant new burdens and uncertainty on advisers.
That is particularly true for sole practitioners and small firms.
Most importantly, it also does not deliver better outcomes for
taxpayers.
“The proposed definitions of “tax adviser” and “interaction with
HMRC” are so broad that many legal professionals who neither
advertise themselves as tax specialists nor act as tax advisers
in any meaningful sense, could be at risk of falling short of the
minimum standards. This makes the proposals unfair and unwieldly.
“For example, even conveyancers filling out Stamp Duty Land Tax
returns could be affected. This risks complicating and
lengthening the conveyancing process. The legislation
should be targeted only at agents who present the greatest
compliance risk.”
Our recommendations include:
- Limiting the regime only to those who routinely act as agents
in relation to a client's tax affairs, or who hold themselves out
as tax advisers.
- Providing greater clarity on the differences between
firm-level and individual registration requirements.
- Giving further consideration to the territorial scope of the
measures.
- Revising the conditions for registration to better reflect
the reasonable expectations of a tax adviser.
- Avoiding duplication by excluding professionals already
subject to other regulatory
regimes.
