This week we bring you news of new guidance and a form for anyone self-employed and working abroad. HMRC has also asked us to publish “Handy hints for taxpayers – June 2023”. Read HMRC’s update on new employees, and we remind you that from next month the research and development (“R&D”) Additional Information Requirements form must be submitted with all R&D tax relief claims, although this commences from the later date of 8 August 2023. The latest report from the Department for Trade on the National Minimum Wage is also available, and HMRC has published updated guidance on “How HMRC advice and information can help you”.
New guidance and form for self-employed taxpayers working abroad
New guidance and a g-form are available for any self-employed individuals who are working abroad and wish to apply for a certificate to confirm they pay UK national insurance.
The form should be used to ask HMRC to confirm that you only need to pay UK social security contributions if you are a self-employed individual working temporarily in an EU country, or Gibraltar, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland.
HMRC’s update on new employees
HMRC has sent an email about upcoming activity to support employers with new starters. The email sets out useful tips to help employers get their staff on the right starter declaration and tax codes.
R&D Additional Information Requirements form commences from 8 August 2023
From 8 August 2023, a week later than the original commencement date of 1 August 2023, companies must complete and submit the Additional Information Requirements (“AIR”) form to HMRC to support all claims for R&D tax relief or the R&D expenditure credit. The AIR form must be sent before submitting the company’s Corporation Tax Return which includes the R&D claim. Failure to do so means that HMRC will write to the company to confirm it has removed the claim for R&D tax relief from the Corporation Tax Return. According to HMRC, the delayed commencement date is designed to give companies more time to prepare.
The Relief for Research and Development (Content of Claim Notifications, Additional Information Requirements and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023 were published last week and codify the content of both the AIR form, and the Claim Notification form, which are both mandatory requirements for R&D tax relief claims to be considered valid.
Chartered Accountants Ireland is represented on HMRC’s R&D sub-group forum and would welcome any feedback or questions on either the AIR form or the Claim Notification form.
Department for Trade’s annual National Minimum Wage report
The Department for Trade’s annual National Minimum Wage report was published last month and named over 200 employers for failing to pay their staff the National Minimum Wage. Guidance for employers on pay continues to be available on GOV.UK. Additional advice has also been published about breaches and the steps employers should take to make sure they pay their workers correctly.
Updated guidance “How HMRC advice and information can help you”
HMRC has published updated guidance “How HMRC advice and information can help you”. Some of the key changes made are as follows:-
- It should be clearer what types of information, or advice the statement applies to;
- Links are included to the HMRC Charter, and a link to the Admin Law Manual which covers “Legitimate Expectation” (“LE”) in more detail; and
- It is now clearer that HMRC can consider applying the correct tax position prospectively, something it always did as part of LE but did not say in the guidance.
The updated statement is based on stakeholder feedback from the Guidance Strategy Forum, with further improvements expected to both the guidance, and the Admin Law Manual.
HMRC are keen to hear feedback on the changes and is also considering more opportunities to signpost to the guidance.
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