HMRC Stakeholder Digest - 25 May 2023

24 May 2023

Please see the following message from HMRC, which we are sharing for information:

The 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.

Updates

HMRC Stakeholder Digest experience survey

We are always working to make sure that the content you receive in our digests is timely and relevant to you and for your networks.

So, we’ve created a short survey as an opportunity for you tell us what you think about these digests. Your feedback will be used to inform the next refresh.

The survey will be available for you to complete from 25 May until 15 June.

Please take a few minutes to complete this survey to support us in improving these communications and help us meet your needs. Your response will be anonymous.

If you have any questions, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]​.

Help to Save extended to April 2025

The governments’ Help to Save scheme for those on low incomes, has been extended until April 2025. The scheme offers a bonus of 50p for every £1 saved. Savers can deposit between £1 and £50 per month and the scheme offers bonus payments worth up to £1,200 over four years.

To be eligible, individuals need to be receiving: 

  • Working Tax Credit
  • Child Tax Credit and be entitled to Working Tax Credit 
  • Universal Credit and (with their partner if it is a joint claim) take-home pay of £722.45 or more in their last monthly assessment period.

Individuals get help with savings if they’re on a low income on GOV.UK or through the HMRC app.

Please share this message with your networks, to help raise awareness of the Help to Save scheme with those who may be eligible. 

Plastic Packaging Tax - Mass Balance Approach for Chemical Recycling

On 27 April 2023, we announced we consult on using a Mass Balance Approach (MBA) to account for chemical recycling for Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). 

We will publish further details on the public consultation later in 2023, where we will welcome views from organisations with an interest in MBA and chemical recycling. 

Penalties guidance  

If your clients or members fail to register or register late, from 1 April 2023 they may be charged a ‘failure to notify’ penalty. 

The penalty is calculated as a percentage of the ‘potential lost revenue’. This is a percentage of the amount of the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) which is unpaid because of the failure to notify. 

Find out more about Plastic Packaging Tax and  Plastic Packaging Tax Penalties on GOV.UK.

Reminders

Benefits of filing your Self Assessment returns early

We are urging customers not to wait until January 2024 to file their tax return. 

More than 77,500 customers submitted their tax return for the 2022 to 2023 tax year on 6 April 2023, compared to almost 37,000 customers on 6 April 2019

The deadline to file tax returns and pay for the 2022 to 2023 tax year is 31 January 2024 but customers can submit theirs now.

Filing their Self Assessment before January means customers can spend more time building their business or doing the things that they enjoy and less time worrying about completing their tax return.  

Your clients and members can find out how to start and get help with budget planning on GOV.UK: Self Assessment tax return early. 

Consultations

​Consultation on disclosing information on business rates valuations  

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is currently conducting a consultation on ‘Business Rates: transparency and disclosure of information on business rates valuation’.

The consultation includes looking into ratepayers having access to an analysis of the evidence used to calculate the rateable value of their property and an explanation of how evidence has been used.  

The VOA are particularly interested in hearing from small or medium business owners or landlords. Please share this opportunity with your networks so that they can have their say by 7 June 2023.​

Learn more about what the proposed changes will mean and how disclosure might differ depending on the type of property on GOV.UK.

Consultation on Smarter regulation non-financial reporting review

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Financial Reporting Council (the UK regulator for corporate reporting) is seeking views on the non-financial reporting requirements UK companies need to comply with to produce their annual report, and whether company size thresholds remain appropriate.

The review aims to:

  • save businesses time and money with a more streamlined and focused corporate reporting regime
  • ensure company annual reports contain clearer, more useful information, by asking investors what really matters to them
  • make the UK an even more competitive place to do business by placing growth and investment at the heart of reporting requirements
  • review the size thresholds that determine some of the information a company needs to produce in their annual report, in particular the definition of micro-enterprises

This builds on the Smarter regulation to grow the economy policy paper which set out how the government would improve regulation across the board to reduce burdens and drive economic growth now that the UK has left the European Union on GOV.UK.

The consultation will end on 16 August and your clients and members can have their say on the Smarter regulation non-financial reporting review: call for evidence consultation on GOV.UK.

The feedback will be used to develop detailed proposals for public consultation next year.