News Archive 2004
21 December
Retirement Annuity Contracts
It has been brought to our attention that for some non-UK resident taxpayers
we have not been correctly handling the calculation of 'Excluded Income' referred
to in S128 Finance Act 1995.
20 December
An article for agents about Self Assessment output
in December has been published today.
19 November
Issue 19 of the Working Together publication is now available.
03 November
Form 42 - reporting transactions involving shares and other securities
As the reporting deadline of 30 November 2004 approaches some Inland Revenue local Area offices have been receiving completed Form 42 and Form 42 (substitute) direct. Please note that these are not dealt with in Area offices and to avoid any delay in meeting the deadline you should send them to:
Share Schemes Team
Room 76
New Wing
Somerset House
London
WC2R 1LB
Self Assessment – Telephone Reminder Project 2004 update
The Inland Revenue had intended to telephone represented taxpayers who have a history of late filing in order to encourage them to send their records to their tax adviser in good time for the 31 January 2005 filing deadline. We are sensitive to the importance of the client/agent relationship and were aiming to help agents encourage earlier action from targeted clients and so reduce the pressure on both agents and the Department in January.
However, some resource issues and a consequent delay in the intended start date mean that the timing of these telephone reminders might be less effective than we had hoped. Additionally, we have had a considerable amount of feedback from agents through Working Together since we announced the project on 19 October drawing attention to the timing in particular.
So we have decided to postpone the project until next year and will aim to make these calls mid 2005 when we will be better placed to encourage early filing for the January 2006 deadline. For next year's project, we will again consult through Working Together.
19 October
Inland Revenue
Gloucestershire Area Open Day (PDF 84K)
Tax Practitioners, Companies, Company Directors, Businesses and Employers
are invited to an Open Day on the 26th October 2004.
Inland Revenue
North Wiltshire Area Open Days (PDF 99K)
Tax Practitioners, Companies, Company Directors, Businesses and Employers
are invited to an Open Day on the 27 October 2004.
Self Assessment - Telephone Reminder Project 2004
As part of its annual telephone reminder programme, for the first time the Revenue will be contacting taxpayers who are represented by a tax adviser to encourage them to send their records, papers, etc to their tax adviser in good time for the 31 January 2005 filing date.
Feedback received by Working Together and research commissioned by the Revenue, indicates that many tax advisers would welcome the Revenue's assistance in encouraging their clients to send their records to them earlier, so that they can plan their work programme and manage the SA work-peak better.
Individual tax advisers and professional bodies which we have consulted have made the point that we should be sensitive to the importance of the agent/client relationship. We fully understand this and have built this into our planning of the project.
The Revenue wants to get agents' feedback about this project. Please see Working Together - Contact Details to contact the Working Together Team.
23 September
Working Together Open Forum (PDF 71K)
Tax Advisers are invited to a Working Together open forum in Inland Revenue
South Wales Area.
27 August 2004
Issue 18 of the Working Together publication is now available.
20 August 2004
Further information on Form 42 was issued within the What's New index on 4 August 2004.
6 August 2004
Construction Industry - Status Categorisation
Employers incorrectly treating employees in the construction industry as self-employed is an area of compliance risk which the Department is devoting significantly more resource to correcting. The number of employer compliance reviews within the construction industry is scheduled to double in 2004/5.
In July and August 2004, letters were sent to contractors where our records
indicate they may be getting the status of their employees wrong. The letter
provides a reminder of the need to ensure the correct status is applied and
the consequences of failing to do this. Letters are also being sent to the
associated sub-contractors that we believe are most likely to have their employment
status incorrect.
The letters invite the contractor and sub-contractor to contact their tax
advisors or their named status Inspector if they need assistance.
Working Together professional body partners have been made aware of the
content of the letters. We are grateful for their feedback and have taken
on board as many of their suggestions as possible. Regretfully, it has not
proved possible to provide copies of the letters to the agents of the recipients.
Copies of the letters (PDF 1.9M) are available.
30 June 2004
Working Together publication Issues 14 and 17 - Telephone Numbers
Please delete Tees Valley Ops from the entry for Sunderland on pages 11 and 5 respectively.
Please note that the pdf versions of these issues have been removed from the website.
25 June 2004
Client's Account Information sheets (SA327s)
Our usual practice is to set unallocated credits against all amounts shown as `Becoming Due' on the SA327. To do this we have to extend the period in which we allocate payments from our usual 45 days to approximately 65 days in advance of the due date of the liability.
But for the June 2004 SA327s, we have not extended the 45-day period. You will therefore see some cases where a credit is shown on the SA327 as `unallocated' and at the same time an amount will be shown as `Becoming Due'. The `Balance of Account' however will continue to show the amount left to pay after taking into account the credit on the SA record.
Please note that this change only affects your June SA327s. Your clients' June Statements of Account will not be changed and will continue to show unallocated credits as set against all `Becoming Due' amounts as usual.
16 June 2004
In issue 10 of Working Together we informed you about Statutory Clearances - 'One Stop Shop', please note that this article is now longer current.
07 June 2004
Handling Your Clients' Payments
We reported in Working Together, issues
14 & 15, the problems caused for the Revenue, tax advisers and their
clients where the wrong payslip were being used by tax agents when sending
payments to the Revenue.
Unfortunately, there is still a high percentage of tax advisers who continue
to use the wrong payslips for their clients. This message is to remind tax
advisers of the need to use the correct payslip for each individual client.
03 June 2004
2003 - 04 Tax Returns - Boxes 18.2B and 3.96
In issue 16 we included an article drawing your attention to changes to the Tax Return for 2003 - 04. These included a note that Question 18 now incorporates a box 18.2B for total Class 4 National Insurance Contributions (NIC) due. On the 2002 - 03 Return this figure was entered on the Self - Employment Page at Box 3.96.
We have been receiving reports form Inland Revenue colleagues that some agents are completing Box 3.96 wrongly by continuing to enter the figure for Class 4 NIC due. Box 3.96 is now for, "Adjustments to profit chargeable to Class 4 National Insurance Contributions".
21 May 2004
Issue 17 of Working Together
is published today.
This issue contains information about changes to our procedures for asking
security verification questions when you contact us by telephone. These changes
have been introduced as a result of your feedback.
The issue also includes an article which clarifies the application of the
Inland Revenue prosecution policy to tax credits, in response to concerns
raised by the profession.
19 May 2004
Form SA310
This message is to let you know about problem that exists at the moment regarding the issue of form SA310 (Notice of Cleanly Captured Return).
Form SA310 is issued automatically in cases where an agent is acting, to acknowledge that a Return has been processed without correction.
The acknowledgement should refer to the year to which the Return relates. However, at present the acknowledgement is referring to the year ended 5th April 2004, regardless of whether the Return is actually for an earlier year. (For example, Return for the year 2002/03 captured at this time will be incorrectly acknowledged as 2003/04).
This problem is due to be fixed during July 2004. In the meantime we apologise
for any inconvenience that this may cause. If you receive a form which you
cannot reconcile, please contact the relevant processing office.
20 April 2004
Notifying tax advisers of Employer Compliance Reviews
Currently Employer Compliance teams send notification of an impending Employer
Compliance Review to the employer but does not notify the authorised tax adviser.
This has been a matter of concern for tax advisers who raised the issue at
Area WT meetings.
We are pleased to confirm that with effect from April 2004, Employer Compliance teams will send simultaneous notifications of an Employer Compliance Review to both employer and authorised tax adviser.
The notification to the employer will include the following
' I have notified your professional adviser(s), ………….who
you have authorised to act on your behalf that we intend to review your records'
Agents telephoning the Revenue
In response to requests from various Area WT meetings, we have produced a
list of the current Taxes Contact Centre Priority Lines for Agents.
6 April 2004
2002-03 Tax Returns - First Fixed Rate Penalty Notices
Some taxpayers and their tax advisers have contacted us, querying the receipt of a penalty notice for a late 2002-03 Tax Return. They have said that the Return was filed on time.
We now know that a number of these penalty notices were issued wrongly, and we want to apologise to you and your clients for the inconvenience and additional work we know that these errors will mean.
We have identified the cause as being individual processing errors, so we will be doing all we can to improve our procedures.
If you have received a penalty notice and the Return was filed before midnight
on 1 February please contact the office shown on the notice.
We will, of course, consider claims for compensation under C/FS
Complaints and putting things right, for any reasonable costs which have
been incurred as a result of our mistake or unreasonable delay.
5 March 2004
The New Tax Credits Claimant
Compliance Manual
This manual has been published on the Internet today. The manual contains
the detailed guidance for Inland Revenue staff on checking claims including
when and how penalties may be incurred by claimants.We anticipate the manual
will be of particular use to professional and voluntary sector advisers.
20 February 2004
2004/05 Coding Notices
Update following the Financial Times article published on 14 February 04.
Working Together Publication
Issue 16 of Working Together is now available
Working Together - South Wales Area
Agents are invited to the annual Working Together Open Forum at the Inland
Revenue Offices at Ty Glas, Llanishen, Cardiff on Wednesday, 10 March 2004.
14 January 2004
SA E-Filing - Fixed Penalties
Working Together partners have asked us to clarify the position with e-filing
where returns are filed shortly before the deadline.
Working Together Publication
Issue 15 of Working Together is now available. Due to production difficulties
the paper version will not be available until 21 January 2004.
