Revenue has updated the appendix in its guidance on the tax treatment of certain benefits payable under the Social Welfare Acts to reflect the name change from the "Widowed or surviving civil partner grant" to the "Bereaved Parent grant".

Revenue has updated its guidance Compensation Payments in respect of Personal Injuries providing additional definitions and details in respect of related legislation. The examples in the guidance have also been updated to reflect current payment rates and are presented in a clearer, more accessible format.

Revenue has updated two other guidance notes this week dealing with arrears of pay and the prompt for action application. The details are as follows: The content of the manual on arrears of pay being paid to an employee who has left an employment has been included in chapter 7.3 of the Employers’ Guide to PAYE with effect from January 2019. Revenue has published new guidance on the Prompt for Action system which allows Revenue to generate and issue bulk, ad hoc, or tailored communications to specific customer groups, typically through online channels.

HMRC has published guidance on choosing software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD). As readers will know by now, from 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords within scope of MTD must start using compatible software to report their income under MTD. HMRC has issued guidance explaining what your software will need to do, the types of software that can assist, as well as choosing the right software for your specific needs. Before you start You will need to answer a few questions to get a tailored list of software options. These include your income sources (self-employment, UK property, foreign property), whether you want to create new digital records or link existing ones, and your accounting period. Essentially, the tool personalises recommendations based on your business type and reporting needs. Find software now The page provides a search tool to find software compatible with MTD. You can filter options to suit your requirements. HMRC does not supply its own software; you must choose from approved providers using the official tool. After you’ve chosen your software Once selected, you need to sign up for MTD and authorise your chosen software to connect with HMRC. Choosing software is only the first step—proper setup and authorisation will be essential for compliance.

HMRC recently published the Tell ABAB report 2024 to 2025. The Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB) comprises 11 representatives from a diverse range of businesses and professions and its aim is to ensure HMRC understands the needs of small business when engaging with the tax system. The Tell ABAB report is a summary of the responses received to ABAB’s online survey and it is one of the most important tools it uses to help HMRC understand the experiences of small businesses. There were 3,146 responses to the 2025 Tell ABAB survey The report notes that if taxpayers or agents have ideas on how to further improve the survey, you can email your suggestions to advisoryboard.adminburden@hmrc.gov.uk. The key findings of the report were as follows: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD): Awareness is rising, but mandatory quarterly updates are unpopular. Most businesses expect no benefits and foresee higher costs and time burdens. MTD is seen as costly and complex, with limited perceived advantages. Brexit-related admin: Import/export requirements are settling into “business as usual,” but remain more burdensome than pre-Brexit. Post-Brexit compliance still adds friction despite stabilisation. HMRC Communications: Helpline response times and clarity of letters remain poor; tone often feels harsh. Communication quality is a persistent pain point. HMRC Guidance: Generally helpful but hard to access; GenAI use is growing, though unchecked reliance is risky. Guidance needs enhanced accessibility and more clarity. Legislative burden: 57 percent say compliance burden worsened (up 7.7 percent from last year), harming productivity and growth. Rising complexity is a major barrier for small businesses.

In this week’s detailed miscellaneous updates which you can read more about below, HMRC publishes research commissioned on the Help to Save Scheme, Government clarifies the tax treatment of payments made under the Capture Redress Scheme, HMRC updates its list of recognised overseas pensions schemes, and HMRC provides a resource to determine if communications received are genuinely from HMRC. HMRC publishes research commissioned on the Help to Save Scheme HMRC commissioned Ipsos to carry out research of users and eligible non-users of the Help to Save Scheme. The aim of the research was to gauge the impact of the scheme on long-term savings behaviour and financial resilience of those within the scheme. The evaluation questions were: Has Help to Save encouraged new saving behaviours during the life of the account? Has Help to Save instilled long-term saving behaviours amongst Users? Has Help to Save prompted greater financial resilience amongst Users? Why have some of those eligible for a Help to Save account not opened one? Ipsos conducted 50 interviews with users and eligible non-users of Help to Save between September and November 2023, followed by 1,688 surveys between September 2024 and January 2025. The views in this report are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of HMRC. Tax treatment of payments made under the Capture Redress Scheme The Capture Redress Scheme (CRS) arose from findings by the Department for Business and Trade that there was a reasonable likelihood that the Capture software, used in the 1990s, could have caused accounting shortfalls for postmasters, leaving postmasters to pay back these shortfalls to the Post Office. In December 2024, the Government committed to compensating those affected. On 27 October 2025, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury announced that payments in the CRS would be exempt from tax and National Insurance contributions. HMRC has since published a policy paper which you can read here. HMRC updates list of recognised overseas pensions schemes notification list HMRC has published a list of recognised overseas pension schemes (ROPS). These are schemes that told HMRC they have met the conditions to be so recognised. The most recent list includes over 25 Irish ROPS. Check if an email you have received from HMRC is genuine HMRC has updated its guidance which allows taxpayers to determine if an email received from HMRC is genuine or not. If you receive an email and the specific communication is not listed, you can report the message to HMRC or alternatively check if HMRC uses more than one communication method. The guidance sets out recent communication initiatives, such as notifying taxpayers that their Annual Tax Summary is available for review, and the timeline within which such communications are being made.

In this week’s cross-border trading corner, we bring you the latest guidance updates and publications. 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 This week’s miscellaneous guidance updates and publications are as follows: Appendix 1 Inventory Exports: DE 1/10: Requested and Previous Procedure Codes, Additional Information (AI) Statement Codes for Data Element 2/2 of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), CDS Declaration Completion Instructions for Imports, Appendix 2: DE 1/11: Additional Procedure Codes of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), Poly(ethylene terephthalate) glycol-modified (PETG) (Tariff notice 19), Non-electrical lamps and lighting fittings (Candle holders) (Tariff notice 20), Tariff notices, Specific wines (Tariff notice 21), Customs Special Procedures Manual, Data Element 2/3: Document and Other Reference Codes: Licence Types — Imports and Exports of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), and Refunds and waivers on customs debt by HMRC.

Last week, Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra hosted a strategic dialogue on the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package. Stakeholders highlighted the importance of avoiding fragmentation, supporting SMEs and the need for continuous cooperation between businesses, Member States, and the Commission.

At last week’s Tax Certainty Day, the OECD released a preliminary version of the 2025 update of the Consolidated Information on Mutual Agreement Procedures (MAPs) with the aim of making tax-related dispute resolution mechanisms more effective. The 2024 MAPs Statistics were also published, enhancing transparency and providing details of agreements reached. 

Brazil has signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Convention) becoming the 106th jurisdiction to join the landmark agreement.

Revenue issued a press release last week reminding residential property owners that the deadline for filing the Local Property Tax (LPT) return for the 2026 – 2030 period is 7 November 2025. The press release confirms that over 550,000 returns have been filed to date and that a system update was implemented last Wednesday to address several technical issues recently identified within the LPT Portal. Property owners are required to assess the value of their property as of 1 November 2025 and submit this valuation to Revenue, along with filing the LPT return by the due date later this week. Taxpayers must also confirm the preferred payment method for 2026 when filing the LPT return choosing between an annual debit instruction, monthly direct debit, deduction at source or payment in full. Comprehensive guidance on determining the correct valuation band for a property and submitting a Local Property Tax (LPT) Return is available on the Revenue website. This includes an interactive valuation tool that provides an estimated average valuation band for residential properties in each area, based on Eircode or location. Revenue reminds property owners that this tool is intended as a general guide only. Revenue has also revised several LPT related manuals to incorporate the changes introduced by the Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2025 and we have outlined these in more detail here. Further details on LPT obligations are available in our previous new item outlining the changes announced in the General Scheme of Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2025 and in our news item on the Local Property Tax information campaign launched by Revenue.

The OECD has published a new set of updated transfer pricing country profiles focusing on the key transfer pricing aspects of each country’s domestic tax legislation. The profiles provide new insights on the transfer pricing treatment of hard-to-value intangibles and the simplified approach for baseline marketing and distribution activities.