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The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has urged HMRC to ensure that represented taxpayers and agents are “not left behind” in its new £180m funding for new resources and technology.
The statement comes in response to yesterday’s budget, which saw the government award HMRC a £180m funding boost which is forecast to bring in “over £1.6bn of additional tax revenues between now and 2025-26”.
As part of the support, HMRC can now invest in IT systems to “enable taxpayers to easily access tax services and update customer accounts digitally and make the collection of tax and payments to taxpayers easier”.
In addition, the funding is also expected to enable the tax authority to carry out the initial design and development of ‘Digitalising Business Rates’ to “help modernise the business rates system in England and support more effective analysis and oversight of the collection of the tax”.
However, Richard Gild, head of tax technical at CIOT has said it is “vital that these service improvements apply to both taxpayers themselves and their authorised agents”.
He said: “Agents play a key role in ensuring compliance with a complex tax system. More revenue is lost to error and mistakes than to deliberate non-compliance. Employing an agent is one action taxpayers can take to make it more likely they get their taxes right.
“We urge HMRC to use this funding not only to iron out some of the glitches in existing systems, but to develop processes that work smoothly and effectively for both taxpayers and their agents.”
