Residence & Domicile (FA 2008) Stakeholder Group

Note of meeting held on 11 March 2009, 100 Parliament Street, London

Represented at the meeting:

  • HM Revenue and Customs
  • HM Treasury
  • The British Bankers Association
  • The Chartered Institute of Taxation
  • The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
  • The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales
  • Low Incomes Tax Reform Group
  • The Law Society of England and Wales
  • The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
  • The London Investment Banking Association
  • The Confederation of British Industry
  • TaxAid
  • Transatlantic Tax Group
  • Expatriates Stakeholder Forum
  • Share Scheme Forum

Apologies:

  • The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
  • Trades Union Congress
  • Alternative Investment Management Association

Update since last meeting

HMRC provided an update on developments since the last meeting of the stakeholder group on 3 February.

  • The meeting with the Financial Secretary is scheduled for 17 March.
  • As the Budget is now 22 April, guidance will be published by the end of March to reflect the law as it stands, with any Budget changes added later.

Comments on guidance

In advance of the meeting HMRC had sent draft copies of guidance that is planned to be published on the internet by the end of March. The guidance is split into ‘Tier 1’ and ‘Tier 2’ with the former being a broad overview and introduction aimed at unrepresented taxpayers and the latter being more detailed technical guidance aimed at HMRC staff and agents.

Most of the guidance will be published initially on the Residency pages of the website to provide flexibility for making changes over the coming months. There will be links to all relevant guidance on one page for easy reference. Some of the guidance will eventually be moved to the new ‘Residence, Domicile and Remittances’ manual and the ‘Transfer of Assets’ manual, which will be published in the HMRC library later in the year. Comments on the guidance will continue to be accepted after publication of the guidance in March. Eventually all the current FAQs/Q&As on the internet will be incorporated into the guidance.

Representatives thought that there was also a need for ‘Tier 0’ or extremely basic guidance on residence, ordinary residence and domicile. Some useful examples of this were included on Direct Gov and British Embassy websites.

There was a general discussion regarding specific aspects of the circulated documents.

There was also a request that the existing guidance in IR20 should still be available via the HMRC website once the new guidance had been published.

Action points

Review Group:

  • To continue sending comments regarding the draft guidance.

HMRC:

  • To take forward suggestions and comments in relation to the draft guidance.
  • To ensure the current Residence & Domicile page acts as a link to all the new guidance.
  • To advise review group when draft guidance is published on the internet.

Next steps

  • Budget announcements which may have an effect on draft guidance.
  • The scope for further stakeholder discussion on these issues following the 2009 Finance Bill.
  • Draft legislation.

Next meeting

The next meeting would take place on 13 May, subject to Budget announcements and the group agreeing there was a need to meet.