Review of Links with Large Business (RLLB)

Customers serviced by Local Compliance (LC) and Large Business Service (LBS)

Movement of businesses between LBS and LC

As part of the implementation process for RLLB, we have reviewed the basis for deciding whether a business is serviced by LBS or LC. In the past, businesses have been dealt with by LBS for some aspects and LC for others and there has not been a consistent basis for this division. We have now introduced clear criteria for deciding where a business will be dealt with and will also be ensuring that businesses are dealt with in the same place for all duties. A number of businesses are consequently seeing a change in the part of HMRC that they will deal with for all or some duties.

We had originally intended to move responsibility for businesses between LBS and LC from January until the end of March, but in order to ensure as smooth a transition as possible, we have needed to delay this process, which will now run from late February until the end of May. We are sorry for any uncertainty or inconvenience that this delay will cause.

Those businesses where responsibility is moving to LC have already been contacted by the Sector Lead in LBS to explain the reasons for the move and that they will have an allocated Customer Manager (CM) within LC. We have explained that the businesses will be contacted by their LBS Client Relationship Manager (CRM) to discuss the move, and that they will have a named CM in place within LC. LC are in the process of writing to these businesses to welcome them and advise which Teams will be responsible for them and the new CM will contact them before the transfer occurs to introduce themselves. The CM will be working with the outgoing LBS CRM over the next few months to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

A number of businesses will be moving from LC to LBS. Those businesses which currently have one of their duties dealt with by LBS and in future will have their service provided wholly by LBS, will already know about this change and will have received a letter from the LBS Sector Leader.

Senior Managers in LC will be writing shortly to those businesses which currently have their tax service provided wholly by LC and in future, will have this service provided by LBS. This letter will explain in more detail the forthcoming change and will provide customers with the name of their new LBS CRM.

Movement of businesses into LBS will also take place by the end of May

Local Compliance Large Business Consultative Forum

We have set up a forum to obtain the views of representatives of Large Businesses serviced by Local Compliance and their agents. We identified that there was a section of customers immediately below LBS customers in terms of size where there was a gap in our consultation/discussion processes. We have published the Terms of Reference and minutes of the following meetings:

We will shortly be publishing minutes of the Accountants forum meeting of 6 December 2007, and will be holding further meetings for both groups in March / April 2008.

It is important that our forum enables us to get an accurate representation of the range of experiences and difficulties that large businesses face in their relationship with us. We are confident that most firms representing large businesses are involved with our Accountants forum, but please get in touch if this is not the case. We would like to broaden the range of representation on our Business Representatives forum. If you are a Tax Manager or similar for a large business serviced by our Local Compliance directorate and are interesting in joining the forum, please contact Matthew Powell. Likewise, if you are an accountant representing such a business, please draw this invitation to their attention.

For the purpose of RLLB and these forums, a Large Business is one which:

  • Has 250 or more employees, or
  • Has aggregate consolidated turnover exceeding 50 million Euros (approx £33 million) and balance sheet asset value exceeding 43 million Euros (approx £27 million).