In October, senior staff from HMRC gathered with invited representatives from 16 diverse interest groups to establish an expert forum, which will evaluate the implementation of HMRC’s powers and safeguards. Chartered Accountants Ireland was among those invited representatives in attendance.

The forum was established in response to the House Lords Economic Affairs Committee report The Powers of HMRC: Treating Taxpayers Fairly. The forum aims to constructively evaluate the powers and safeguards introduced since 2012 through several lenses including, for example, the taxpayer’s experience, HMRC capacity, the results yielded, proportionality and fairness.

While the review is only commencing and the methodology for this is being finalised, members can expect to hear more about it in the coming months and they, and their clients, may be invited to provide their feedback.