HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) team will be in Northern Ireland next week on Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 March and would like to visit/meet with some agents to talk about MTD for income tax. With just over one year to the first tranche of mandation from April 2026, we would encourage small and medium sized firms in particular to consider taking up this unique opportunity for a face to face meeting. If your firm would like to meet with HMRC, please contact us by email to take forward. HMRC has also recently updated the list of available software for MTD for income tax with sixteen products now available to choose from.

Member States have updated the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes on 18 February 2025 as part of the EU's commitment to promoting tax transparency and fair taxation globally. No new jurisdictions were added to the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Annex I).

Finance Bill 2024-25 continues its path through the parliamentary process. Committee stage for the Bill concluded at the end of last month with a number of government amendments passed affecting a range of areas including the UK’s Pillar Two rules and the abolition of the remittance basis regime for non-UK domiciled individuals from 6 April 2025. The Bill is now due to have its report stage and third reading next week on Monday 3 March. Amendments can be made to the Bill at this stage. These are selected by the speaker. However, report stage is the last opportunity for amendments to be made before third reading takes place after which the Bill will move to the House of Lords.

In this week’s miscellaneous updates, the latest Agent Update is available and HMRC has sent a reminder email that the new legislation for alcohol approvals, returns and payments went live from the start of February with the associated online service to be launched from the end of this week on 1 March 2025. HMRC has responded to the latest annual report from the Adjudicator's Office and the latest schedule of HMRC Talking Points live and recorded webinars for tax agents are available for booking. Spaces are limited, so take a look now and save your place. HMRC is also holding webinars in the coming weeks on “Help with Common Risks in Transfer Pricing Approaches”, and “Employers – what’s new for 2025 to 2026?”. And finally, check HMRC’s online services availability page for details of planned downtime and the online services affected. Agent Update 128 Agent Update: Issue 128 is available now and features news and guidance across a range of areas including: The new default cash basis, Alcohol duty reform, The official rate of interest from 6 April 2025, Statutory neonatal care leave, Getting ready for the changes to employer’s national insurance contributions, and Guidance for clients who need to change the way they report their income and expenses HMRC response to latest Adjudicator's Office annual report HMRC and the Valuation Office Agency’s joint response to the Adjudicator's Office annual report published last September is now available. The Adjudicator’s Office 2024 Annual Report highlighted learnings based on insight from complaints investigated in 2023/24. The Adjudicator’s foreword commented that 2023/24 saw an increase in complaints and requests for reviews (1,046 complaints from HMRC compared to 950 in 2022/23) and that it had been another challenging year for HMRC with HMRC having “struggled to deal with high volumes of complaints. Issues with customers accessing help – primarily through their phone lines – are significant and have been reported in the media.” However, according to the report there “are signs more recently of an improved picture” which was summarised as follows: “HMRC has committed to action aiming to end a peak and trough cycle of complaint handling we have seen over the last few years. There has been a tendency for complaint volumes to increase, for recovery action to be taken that reduces wait times before the cycle begins again. Initiatives to rectify this include greater empowerment of frontline staff to fix problems at first contact before they develop into a complaint. HMRC’s strategic direction is to move more of its activity online. The data suggests that customer satisfaction is considerably better through digital channels and the approach is intended to free up more resource for those who are vulnerable, digitally excluded or have complex issues that require someone to help. A significant step by HMRC this reporting year was its decision to close its Self-Assessment helpline between June and September 2023. HMRC explained that customers using this helpline were more likely to be able to engage with them online, and in doing so, make it easier to speak to customers on the phone who need that support most. In theory, this makes sense. We challenged HMRC to demonstrate the efficacy of its decision. In March 2024, HMRC announced that it would be closing a number of other helplines. It said that it had learned from the initial trial and that in doing so, more people could be moved into digital channels and in doing so, staff would be freed up to deal with vulnerable or digitally excluded customers. However, there was significant feedback on HMRC’s readiness to implement this change without adversely impacting customers and HMRC quickly reversed their decision. This will have inevitably impacted its operational plans and demonstrates the significant pressure HMRC is under to deliver its digital transformation whilst maintaining existing services. It is too early to say that HMRC have in place a long-term sustainable solution that ensures great customer service and complaint handling. We will continue to hold HMRC to account especially in relation to service that is too slow or doesn’t answer the problem raised and for those who find it difficult to interact digitally with HMRC. As we have said before, the mechanism for that is HMRC’s Charter which sets out simply and clearly what HMRC aspires to as a modern, responsive, trusted tax authority.” HMRC responded to the 2024 Annual Report as follows: “The Adjudicator’s Annual Report highlighted the high volume of complaints we received during 2023 to 2024. We acknowledge that this was a difficult period as we faced serious challenges in delivering our customer services because of financial pressures and the need to manage a growing number of customers with complex tax affairs. Reducing demand for traditional contact channels like post and telephone, alongside the deployment of additional customer service advisers, has now enabled us to meet our telephony service standard and more effectively support those who need to speak to an adviser. As noted in our Annual Report and Accounts, our strategy is firmly focused on how we can help more customers get things right first time, rather than fixing problems after they happen, and supporting more customers to self-serve using our online services. As more customers use our digital services, we will ensure that our customer service resource is focused on customers who need additional help.”

The Commission has published Questions and Answers on the US reciprocal tariff policy, noting that VAT is a consumption tax, similar to US sales taxes, and applies indiscriminately to any foreign or domestic business selling goods in the EU.

In this week’s post EU exit corner, we bring you the latest guidance updates and publications relevant in the post EU exit environment. The most recent Trader Support Service bulletin is also available as is the latest Brexit and Beyond newsletter from the Northern Ireland Assembly EU Affairs team. Miscellaneous guidance updates and publications Data Element 2/3: Documents and Other Reference Codes (Union) of the Customs Declaration Service, Using an express operator to import and export, Notices made under The Customs (Import Duty) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018, Notices made under The Customs (Export) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, Get someone to deal with customs for you, Applying to use simplified declarations for exports, Transit newsletters — HMRC updates, Search the register of customs agents and express operators, Apply to pay less duty on goods you export to process or repair,  Apply to import goods temporarily to the UK, and Report a problem using the Customs Declaration Service.

Later this week, Regina Doherty, MEP, will lead a delegation of the tax matters subcommittee to meet with representatives of key Finnish and Estonian institutions to discuss topical international tax issues and challenges. The topics to be discussed will include the implementation of the OECD's Two-Pillar solution, the simplification of the tax system and improving competitiveness, tax incentives, the situation of cross-border workers, energy taxation, and the implementation of EU Directives.

The latest UK tax tidbits features updated guidance across a range of areas and updated guidance on how to spot genuine HMRC contact and identify phishing attempts. Appeals reviews and tribunals guidance, Simplifying the onboarding process for new starters: communication resources, Cryptoassets Manual, Apply for an agent services account if you're not based in the UK, Property Income Manual, Create an agent services account, Check if you need to carry out digital platform reporting, Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method, Check if a phone call you've received from HMRC is genuine, Check if an email you've received from HMRC is genuine, Check if a text message you've received from HMRC is genuine, Check for signs of labour fraud in construction, What to do when an employee dies, Receive Income Tax or PAYE repayments on behalf of others, Collecting the right tax from wealthy individuals, Set up a private limited company, Claim tax relief on your private pension payments Employment Status Manual, and Named tax avoidance schemes, promoters, enablers and suppliers.

In Irish news, the OECD has published the Economic Survey of Ireland 2025, and we issue a reminder that the deadline for submitting the 2024 Special Assignee Relief Programme employer return is 23 February 2025. In UK news, the UK Government has launched a consultation on e-invoicing and HMRC’s Making Tax Digital user research programme is seeking volunteers. In International news, the OECD is to publish a consolidated report on Amount B as part of the Two-Pillar solution on BEPS. Ireland 1. Read about the OECD’s recently published Economic Survey of Ireland 2025 and the key messages from the report. 2. We remind readers that the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) employer return for 2024 is due for submission by 23 February 2025. UK 3. The UK Government has launched a consultation on e-invoicing which will run for twelve weeks. 4. HMRC’s Making Tax Digital programme is looking for volunteers to assist with user research. International 5. Read about the consolidated report to be published by the OECD on Amount B. Keep up to date with all the latest Irish, UK, and international tax developments through Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Tax Newsletter. Subscribe to the Tax News by updating your preferences in MyAccount. You can also read this week’s post EU exit corner.

Revenue has recently updated three other Tax and Duty Manuals on the annual average exchange rates, licences for employees in private security, and charges on income for corporation tax. Details on these updates are set out below. The manual Annual Average Exchange rates includes the average market mid-closing rate relative to the euro, for the calendar year 2024. The manual Mandatory Licences for Employees in Private Security provides details to relevant taxpayers on claiming tax relief for the cost of a mandatory licence required for the performance of the taxpayers employment duties. The manual on Charges on Income for Corporation Tax purposes has been updated to include a new section dealing with the dissolution of companies.

Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual Guidelines on PAYE Assessments to reflect Finance Act 2024. The manual has been updated to reflect the amendment introduced to the four-year time limit for making or amending PAYE assessments by a Revenue officer.  From 1 January 2025, the four-year limit commences at the end of the year following the year of assessment in which the employer return for that income tax month is made.

Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual Small Benefit Exemption (SBE) to reflect Finance Act 2024. From 1 January 2025, the SBE has been updated to allow employers to give up to five qualifying incentives in a tax year to employees without incurring a charge to tax. To avail of the SBE, the cumulative annual value of the incentives cannot exceed €1,500. The manual includes details of the applicable limits in prior years on the total value and number of incentives which qualified for the exemption. Additional examples have also been included in the manual.