Tax Administration and Maintenance Command Paper

Government has published a Tax Administration and Maintenance Command Paper which, it says, builds on the Government’s 10-year tax administration strategy published in July 2020, as well as the series of consultations and tax policy updates following on from the Spring Budget 2021.

The paper is divided into three chapters; Tax simplification, Tackling non-compliance and Further tax policy announcements.

Key points include;

Tax simplification;

• Tax Administration Framework Review – The government is publishing a summary of responses to the call for evidence on modernising the tax administration framework, relating to obligations for HMRC, taxpayers, agents, and third parties.
• Timing of tax payments – The government is publishing a summary of responses to the call for evidence on timely payment of tax.  No changes will be made to payment timings within this Parliament, however, HMRC will conduct a pilot to test the calculation of tax liability in-year.
• Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax – The government is publishing a summary of responses to the consultation on the potential design of Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax.

Tackling non-compliance;

• Modernising tax debt collection for non-paying businesses – The government is publishing a call for evidence on how HMRC can modernise its collection of tax debts, including businesses in the UK without presence or physical assets here. The call for evidence will seek views on HMRC’s approach to ‘the small minority of business taxpayers who do not engage with HMRC and hold off paying their tax for as long as they can, forcing HMRC to resort to costly and time-consuming enforcement action.’
• OECD’s Model Mandatory Disclosure Rules to tackle non-compliance –Mandatory Disclosure Rules require advisers to report information to the tax authorities on certain prescribed arrangements and structures. The government is now issuing a technical consultation and draft regulations. This information will be exchanged with relevant tax authorities to ‘help deter non-compliance, assist in identifying and challenging evasion, and support the development of tax policy’. Government is issuing a technical consultation and draft regulations.
• Exploring the potential of VAT split payment – The government is exploring further VAT split payment, an alternative method of VAT collection where the tax element of a digital payment could be remitted directly to HMRC.
• Use of marketed tax avoidance schemes in the UK – HMRC is publishing its annual report on the use of marketed tax avoidance schemes in the UK.  It sets out the numbers and characteristics of taxpayers using avoidance schemes in the tax year 2019-2020.

Further tax policy announcements;

• Call for evidence on the umbrella company market – The government is publishing a call for evidence to ensure it has an up-to-date view of how the umbrella company market operates. The call for evidence invites views from stakeholders on the role that umbrella companies play in the labour market, and how they interact with the tax and employment rights systems. It sets out the concerns that have been raised by some stakeholders, as well as government action already taken to tackle tax non-compliance and improve protection for workers.