This month, two Institute CPD events are taking place, each of which will look at Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax from different angles. More details on each are available below. As we approach the six months to go mark to the first tranche of mandation from 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with gross income in excess of £50,000, the Institute recommends that members with clients affected book onto both of these webinars. HMRC has recently launched a new agent outreach campaign which allows agents to complete an online form to register to receive support directly from HMRC ahead of April 2026. CPD webinars Tim Palmer’s two hour CPD webinar on Thursday 11 September is open for booking and will deal with the detail of the technical rules and practicalities of MTD. Planning opportunities will also be considered. The following week at 1pm on Tuesday 16 September, HMRC are delivering a 1 hour webinar which will mainly focus on key readiness tips for agents and taxpayers. Spaces are still available to book. The detailed agenda for Tim Palmer’s webinar is as follows: The requirements of MTD for income tax, Which self-employed individuals and landlords will be mandated to comply, The turnover test, Digital record-keeping, The submission of quarterly updates, including what must be submitted, The election to use calendar quarters instead of fiscal quarters, Traders with turnover below the VAT threshold, The submission of the final declaration, Planning opportunities, The software decision, Practical case studies, The transitional rule, Pre-populated income, The impact on the construction industry, and A general overview of MTD for income tax. The HMRC led webinar on 16 September will be delivered by Sam Wood BSc ACA. Sam works with agents within HMRC’s MTD programme and has a background in accounting and digital transformation. Sam is responsible for Cross Cutting Stakeholder Engagement, Policy and Strategy at HMRC and is a Chartered Accountant and a member of ICAEW with wide experience of MTD from its inception. HMRC agent outreach support campaign for agents launched According to the latest data from HMRC, approximately 864,000 taxpayers will be mandated to use MTD for income tax from April 2026. Almost 1,100,000 (£30,000 - £50,000 population) will be mandated from April 2027 and this will be followed by circa. 975,000 (£20,000 - £30,000) from April 2028. In recognition of the scale of this change for taxpayers and agents, HMRC has recently launched a new agent outreach campaign.  This campaign allows agents to register with HMRC for direct and tailored support by completing an online form. Agents who have an Agent Services Account (ASA) can access the form by signing in with the Government Gateway ID and password linked to their ASA. If the agent does not have an ASA, the form can be completed by signing in with their online services for agents account details (which will require contact details to be provided manually). When completing the form, the agent will be asked to:  allow HMRC to make contact them by email; indicate how many clients they must sign up to MTD for income tax and any that are willing to sign up voluntarily for testing, and    express an interest in having a one to one conversation with HMRC about readiness for and testing of MTD for income tax.   HMRC then aims to review the agent’s form and tailor its response, and the support provided, depending on the agent’s specific needs. Priority is being given to agents with a large number of clients who will be required to sign up. HMRC is aiming to offer a wide range of supports which will include information emails, virtual peer group sessions and, if appropriate, a direct support discussion with HMRC’s MTD team. This is a very valuable tool for agents with clients affected by this significant change hence we encourage you to consider availing of this key support ahead of time.

In the last edition of tax news before its summer break in August, we highlighted that on L-day in July, the Government published three technical consultations on draft legislation each of which close later this month. The Institute will be responding to these and is seeking your feedback by close of business on Friday 12 September. Email tax@charteredaccountants.ie to share your views. More details on each consultation are set out below. Raising standards project Under the banner of the ongoing raising standards in the tax advise market project, HMRC published two separate technical consultations with associated draft legislation. Both these consultations close on Monday 15 September. More details on each are set out below. Modernising and mandating tax adviser registration This consultation seeks views on the introduction of a legal requirement for tax advisers who interact with HMRC on behalf of clients to register with HMRC and meet minimum standards. This will begin from 1 April 2026, with a transitional period of at least three months (it is currently unclear exactly what this means). The legislation’s explanatory note provides a useful overview of the key elements of the registration requirement. Clause 5 of the draft legislation sets out the three eligibility conditions which will need to be satisfied in order for an agent or firm to qualify for registration. These are as follows: Condition A will require the tax adviser, and each of their senior managers, to meet specific criteria. These include having no outstanding tax returns or payments due to HMRC, and not being insolvent or subject to certain sanctions, disqualifications or convictions, Condition B stipulates that the adviser and each of their senior managers must adhere to any specific standards set out by HMRC, and Condition C requires that tax advisers are registered with a supervisory authority for anti-money laundering purposes. Clause 21(2) then defines senior manager for these purposes. As agents will also be grappling with the first batch of taxpayers mandated to use Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax from 6 April 2026, clearly this will be a very challenging deadline to meet. It also remains unclear whether or not agents which already hold an agent services account with HMRC will need to register under this measure. Enhancing HMRC’s powers and sanctions against tax adviser facilitated non-compliance This consultation seeks views on further measures to ‘support compliance and transparency in the tax advice market’. There are two associated legislative explanatory notes which are useful: M7087_Conduct_of_tax_agents_explanatory_notes.odt, and https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687e1cb54d7769a746325fc6/M7087_Publication_of_information_about_tax_agents_explanatory_notes.odt. The measures include: changes allowing HMRC to request information from tax advisers where there is reasonable suspicion of deliberate conduct (amended from dishonest conduct), penalties for tax advisers who engage in deliberate conduct (again, amended from dishonest conduct), calculated based on the tax loss, and a new power allowing HMRC to publish details of advisers where they have been sanctioned (at present this element appears to have very few safeguards). MTD and penalty reform This draft legislation aims to refine and simplify the existing MTD framework and legislates for many of the changes announced in March at the Spring Statement. This includes the following: A deferral from MTD until at least 2029 for some groups, including Ministers of Religion, Lloyds Underwriters, and recipients of the blind person’s allowance, Exemptions from MTD for others, including individuals with power of attorney, and non-UK resident entertainers with no other qualifying income, Technical and policy amendments, including the authority for HMRC to cancel or reset late submission penalty points and cancel associated financial penalties, A requirement for MTD users to submit their end of year tax return using MTD-compatible software, and The mandation of the £20,000 gross income threshold from 6 April 2028. The aim of this consultation is to seek views on whether the draft legislation works as intended.

The Institute is pleased to advise that HMRC will be delivering a webinar for our members on Tuesday 16 September 2025 on Making Tax Digital for income tax. The webinar will cover key technical points and readiness tips ahead of the first phase of mandation from April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with gross income above £50,000. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions. More details, including a booking link, will be available in the coming weeks.