This week’s miscellaneous updates – 23 March 2026

In this week’s detailed miscellaneous updates which you can read more about below, an additional step may now be required when enrolling VAT into a taxpayer’s Business Tax Account and HMRC is making some changes to employer statements and end of tax year adjustments. HMRC has also recently launched its new tax education campaign, ‘Tax Confident’.

In other news this week:

• HMRC is asking employers to encourage employees to check the HMRC App and claim any refunds they are owed as HMRC no longer issues tax refunds automatically by cheque for most PAYE taxpayers,
• The recording of a recent Institute for Government webinar ‘Can Rachel Reeves protect both households and the public finances from the energy price shock?’ is now available to view,
• The House of Commons Library has updated its research briefing exploring the nature of the high income child benefit charge and the debate around its design,
• HMRC is aware of an issue affecting the transition of agents to the new Country by Country reporting agent handshake service for a small number of taxpayers. HMRC apologises for any inconvenience this may cause and is looking into the issue, and
• The Treasury Committee has opened a call for evidence into student loans and the taxation of graduates. Evidence must be submitted by 14 April 2026.

Additional step to enrol VAT in Business Tax accounts

In recent months taxpayers may need to provide their application reference number from their VAT registration application when enrolling VAT into their Business Tax Account. Taxpayers are provided with this when the registration is submitted. This is sent to the email address used during registration and also appears on VAT registration approval letters.

Changes to employer statement and end of year tax adjustments.

HMRC has made the following change recently which affects employers.

Credit allocations

Concerns have been expressed by employers that although ‘annual’ and ‘monthly’ statements show which credits have been allocated to that month, it is not always easy to see where all credits from that month have come from or gone to. This is especially true if in-year revised Full Payment Submissions result in minus figures. HMRC’s new credit allocation page now shows the month the credit arose and where it has been allocated to.

End of tax year adjustments

Only a small proportion of employers need to make these. HMRC previously showed a total for any end of tax year adjustments which also included interest. HMRC has worked with stakeholders who have advised that this figure could in fact be a combination of multiple end of tax year adjustments, including multiple separate interest charges, which makes it difficult to reconcile records.

HMRC intends to add a hyperlink onto the end of tax year adjustments label on the ‘annual statement’ page. This will link to a breakdown page. If only one adjustment has been received it will look very simple and easy to understand, but it will show the interest as a separate figure. If there are multiple adjustments then the page will look different. HMRC will show a summary total together with a separate breakdown of each adjustment. This will be in a tabbed format. HMRC has user tested this with numerous users, both agents and employers, who all agreed that this method was the best and simplest to understand.

Tax confident campaign launch

Tax Confident is HMRC’s new campaign designed to help people build the basic tax knowledge they need to feel informed, capable, and in control. Many people feel overwhelmed and anxious when dealing with tax because they lack basic knowledge about what tax is and how the system works. This campaign aims to transform that anxiety into confidence by providing clear, simple, and engaging resources that help people understand the basics before they need to engage with more detailed guidance.  

As part of the launch, HMRC has asked us to share the resources included in its stakeholder toolkit. In the toolkit you’ll find ready to use:

• Website copy, 
• Social media posts, and 
• A newsletter.