The September update features Talking Points, what’s happening with the Agent Forum and Agent Toolkits.

“Talking Points

• The team continue to run a weekly program of Talking Points meetings, providing two opportunities to attend where possible.
• A variety of subjects were covered in August, including a look at changes to Inheritance Tax, the new Trusts Registration Service, the submission of SA returns affected by exclusions and an update on HMRC’s API strategy and delivery.
• There were over 5000 agent participations in live Talking Points meetings during August.
• The monthly ‘re-cap’ email, including links to recent Talking Points recordings, was issued on 24th August to all of those that are subscribed to our weekly invitations, providing them with an opportunity to catch up.
• October’s programme includes:
• Income from Property – minimising the risk for individuals. Dealing specifically with expenses and deductions, allowances and reliefs
• Corporation Tax – Demystifying Certificates of Residence for Limited Companies
• Pension Scheme Registration: How to correctly complete the APSS146 Income Tax Repayment form & SA970 Tax Return.
• We will also be working in partnership with the Intellectual Property Office again to provide an introduction to Trade Marks.
• Our forward-look schedule, publicising Talking Points currently arranged between now and the end of November, will be published on Gov.uk by the end of September. We will of course accommodate other meetings in the programme where we can to meet demand and communicate those opportunities by email.
• We expect our SA programme of Talking Points to begin in early December and will be looking to provide several opportunities between then and the end of January.

Online Agent Forum

• The Digital Support for Businesses and Agents (DSBA) Agent Team staffed by 2.5 FTE Issues Resolution Managers (IRMs), moderate and run the forum. We are additionally bring in extra cover from our Agent Account Managers (AAMs) team to ensure we maintain response service levels, when going to Lines of Business for issues resolution.
• As at mid-September 2017 the Forum has 140+ Agent subscribers (up 40 since last progress report) and 47 HMRC staff. It has attracted over 4.2k views (up 2k), 330 (up 40) posted messages on 53+ current topics; which are moderated daily with appropriate responses given, as determined by subject matter, related traffic generated and referrals provided by line of business.
• We continue to work closely with the Issues Overview Group (IOG), supported by PR representatives, in jointly determining what the ‘widespread’ issues are classification of their priorities for early resolution.

Agent Toolkits

• Agent Toolkits continue undergoing a ‘refresh’ programme to update their content in accordance with current to compliance practices and taxpayer obligations. The existing product portfolio is being expanded to cover subjects hitherto not considered, following customer insight findings and research.
• This channel is also being considered for migration onto a new digital platform. Significant promotion activity, including the next issue of Agent Update (AU62), has been successfully undertaken, in raising the Toolkit brand profile, within the Agent community, together with making them easier for agents to access via the GOV.UK website.”

END OF HMRC UPDATE