This week’s miscellaneous updates – 4 February 2025

In this week’s miscellaneous updates, HMRC is holding a webinar tomorrow on the national minimum wage (NMW) for seasonal workers and a further webinar is being held next week on the NMW and apprentices. A number of webinars are also being held for employers, details of which are set out below. HMRC has also published a new release of guidance for consultation on Pillar Two. The minutes of the November Wealthy External forum, which the Institute is represented on, have also been published on GOV.UK and finally HMRC has started at trial which involves emailing ‘guidance packages’ to taxpayers following the submission of research and development (R&D) tax relief claim notification and additional information forms.

New Pillar Two guidance consultation

HMRC has published a consultation document containing supplementary pages of draft guidance. This release includes pages that had not previously been published, including pages on flow-through entities, joint ventures, and additional top-up tax amounts. It also includes pages created/revised to reflect amendments to the UK’s Pillar Two legislation in the current Finance Bill, including to the Under Taxed Profits Rule.

Responses can be provided on any guidance content, including previously released pages, and these will be reviewed before publication of the final manual. Please email responses to pillar2.consultation@hmrc.gov.uk including the page reference number where applicable. For further information, see the introduction page in the consultation document.

Webinars for employers

HMRC is holding the following live webinars for employers over the next few weeks:

• 4 February - getting payroll information right,
• 5 February -  employer filing obligations,
• 11 February - statutory maternity and paternity pay,
• 12 February-  statutory sick pay, and
• 19 February - taxing employee's benefits and expenses through your payroll.

HMRC’s collection page for new employers contains further information and links to previously  recorded webinars.

New R&D guidance trial

HMRC has started a trial which involves emailing ‘guidance packages’ to taxpayers after the submission of R&D tax relief claim notification and additional information forms. This aims to provide key pieces of guidance and support when making R&D tax relief claims.

According to HMRC:

• the emails will be sent on a random basis,
• the content of the email will differ depending on the form(s) submitted. However, it will include contact details for HMRC if the recipient was not aware that the form(s) were submitted, and