In the news: June 2024

‘We are concerned that HMRC digital services are not yet of a sufficient standard to cut telephone services. In the case of simple assessment, we understand it is not yet possible to use HMRC’s online services to arrange to pay in instalments.’

LITRG senior manager Kelly Sizer on the difficulty 
of checking suspected scam letters with HMRC, 
The Guardian, 25 March

‘The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) said that workers who are paid on Thursday April 4 or Friday April 5 may owe extra tax because of receiving an “extra” pay cheque in the 2023/24 tax year.’

Daily Mirror, 4 April

‘The CIOT said anyone earning less than £112,900 would see an increase in their take-home pay in the 2024-25 financial year, which starts on Saturday.’

Daily Telegraph story on Scottish tax divergence, 
5 April

‘There’s a relief out there for when we sell a home that we’ve lived in called private residence relief. The rules are very complicated and there are so many moving parts. It’s hard to say whether there has been an error or not.’

ATT technical officer Emma Rawson
explaining capital gains tax on ITV News,
 12 April

‘For a lot of people, tax is hard. These agents present themselves as having technical expertise, so the taxpayers feel on the backfoot, not understanding whether what they’re being told is too good to be true.’

LITRG technical officer Meredith 
McCammond in The Sun on tax refund
 firms, 25 April

‘Ellen Milner, director of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Taxation … said HMRC’s digital services “aren’t yet good enough” and need to be improved to enable the tax office to “scale down their phone lines without risking harming compliance”.’

Financial Times, 26 April

‘The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group warns that the error, acknowledged by HMRC, could strip self-employed workers of crucial National Insurance-related benefits like the state pension.’

The Sun on an HMRC tax error affecting
thousands of taxpayers, 7 May