HMRC Stakeholder Digest – 10 February 2022

Please see the following message which we are sharing on behalf of HMRC:

This HMRC Stakeholder Digest provides a round-up of our latest news and updates, which we’d be grateful if you could share with your clients, customers or members. 

The government has set up a dedicated support page where businesses can find the right support, advice and information to help with the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). 

Quarter 3 performance update 

HMRC has published our quarter 3 performance update covering October to December 2021.  

Our latest performance figures show we’re making solid progress during a year of recovery, as the UK economy emerges from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We’re keeping our improved helpline service levels stable and continuing to work through customer letters and forms to bring the stock of these down to normal levels. Alongside this, we’ve successfully handled the introduction of EU full customs controls on 1 January and supported more than 10.2 million customers to meet this year’s Self-Assessment tax return deadline.

Average call waiting times were down to only 9 minutes during December, with National Insurance and PAYE customers waiting only 6 minutes and 5 minutes respectively. 

We’re also on track to reduce our post stock to around 2 million by the end of the quarter 4, which would be back to normal pre-pandemic levels. 

We understand the frustrations of customers and agents who have been waiting longer than normal for us to deal with their individual enquiry. We are genuinely sorry that we haven’t got to everyone more quickly – and thank you for bearing with us during this period. 

VAT businesses experience benefits of Making Tax Digital

Businesses using Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT continue to experience its benefits in their second year of participation, an independent report by Kantar has found. 

The ‘Ongoing Impact of Making Tax Digital’ report, commissioned by HMRC, found reduced scope for errors, time saved and greater financial confidence, insight and control were among the benefits of going digital experienced by MTD businesses. 

All VAT registered businesses must sign up to MTD VAT for their first VAT return from April 2022. Guidance on how to sign up is available on GOV.UK.  

Update to Job Retention Scheme claims information 

From February 2021, we published a monthly list of employers who claimed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) on GOV.UK, as part of HMRC’s commitment to transparency. 

This information covered the period from December 2020 to September 2021, and included employer names, Company Registration Numbers and an indication of the amount claimed for using banded amounts.  

As outlined in the rules of the scheme, CJRS claims information will only be publicly available for one year. This means we’ll be starting to remove this information from GOV.UK on a month-by-month basis from 18 February.   

Call for Evidence: Umbrella Company Market

Published last November, the government aims to build on our existing knowledge and understanding of the market and wants to hear a wide range of perspectives on the role umbrella companies play in the labour market. We encourage anyone with interest in the sector to give their views.  

The Call for Evidence also sets out the government’s current understanding of the market – including the existing commitments and actions taken to tackle non-compliance and improve protection for workers. 

The Call for Evidence on umbrella companies closes on Tuesday 22 February and full details, including the variety of ways to respond, can be found on GOV.UK. 

Plastic Packaging Tax: Webinars and refreshed step- by- step guides

On 1 April the new Plastic Packaging Tax - GOV.UK comes into force. It will apply to manufacturers and importers of plastic packaging components which contain less than 30% recycled plastic.  

As part of our continuing support for customers, HMRC is running a further round of webinars. These will cover an introduction to PPT, as well as a session on administrative and technical aspects of the tax.  

Webinar 1: Introduction to Plastic Packaging Tax   

Friday 18 February, 13:45 to 14:45 and Friday 25 February, 13:45 to 14:45 

This webinar will cover how the tax will operate including:   

• what the plastic packaging  tax applies to   
• who is responsible for paying and accounting for the tax  
• what information is needed for your tax returns and record keeping.   

Sign up on GoToWebinar.  

Webinar 2: Administrative and Technical Aspects  

Tuesday 22 February, 09:45 to 10:45 and Monday 28 February, 13:45 to 14:45   

This webinar will cover the technical points about recycled plastic and exemptions from the tax including:   

• how to claim tax credits   
• allowable sources of recycled plastic  
• methods for calculating or evidencing recycled plastic content and weight of packaging components  
• supply chain responsibilities   

Sign up on GoToWebinar.  

Updated step-by step guides 

We have updated two ‘decision tree’ documents to assist businesses to determine if their plastic packaging is in scope of the tax, and who is required to account and potentially pay tax on the plastic packaging. 

The decision trees are available to view on LinkedIn: 

• Check if your plastic packaging is in scope 
• Check if you need to register and are liable   

Update to Loan Schemes and Loan Charge overview

HMRC recently updated the policy paper on ‘Repaying a disguised remuneration loan to a third party’ to reflect updated guidance on whether the loan agreement is unenforceable. We are concerned to hear about these activities to ask for repayment of loans and the policy paper provides information on what those affected could do. 

Public sector equality report

HMRC has published our Public Sector Equality Duty report which shows our progress in 2020-21 to improve diversity and inclusion for our customers and colleagues. 

Customer focused activity in the report includes: 

• continued partnership with the Royal Association for Deaf people to offer British Sign Language translation services through live conversations - this helped 1018 deaf customers with their tax affairs  
• dedicated support offered by our Extra Support Team who helped over 97,000 customers who need extra help in dealing with their tax and HMRC benefits such as tax credits and Child Benefit 
• funding for 15 voluntary and community sectors organisations who assisted 37,990 customers that needed extra help with their tax and benefits. This included 52,000 phone calls, 7,400 emails and 2,200 face-to-face advice sessions 
• providing information in alternative formats for 25,981 customers which included large print, Braille, audio and plain text on CD 
• Welsh language translations, with over 2.4 million words translated into Welsh. Our customer service teams responded to over 20,000 phone calls, 1,200 emails and 3,800 pieces of post in Welsh.  

Our equality objectives for 2020 to 2024 can also be found on GOV.UK.  

Mental health support for small businesses

Inspired by their recent YouGov poll which revealed that one in three employers have not spoken to employees about their mental health over the past year, on 3 February Acas launched a campaign to support small businesses and organisations with mental health in the workplace. 

Acas have worked closely with their key partners to address the issues raised, by creating a framework for positive mental health at work, which provides practical and simple steps businesses can take to help support the mental wellbeing of their employees. 

They also recently published guidance for employers and a series of guest blogs responding to the mental health challenge facing SMEs.