AAT public affairs and public policy activities: January 2022

Every month AAT summarises some of the key Public Affairs & Public Policy activities undertaken on behalf of our members.

Below you will find some key highlights for January 2022.

If you would like any further information about any of these issues, please contact Phil Hall, AAT Head of Public Affairs & Public Policy via twitter or via email.

AAT external panels

During the second week of January, the AAT Tax panel, AAT Payroll panel and AAT Digital Advisory panel all met. The panels meet twice a year and are composed of a diverse range of senior professionals who are experts in their field. Useful debate took place at all three panels and unprompted feedback from members across all panels was incredibly positive.

The Tax panel discussed the merits or otherwise of an Online Sales Tax, Basis Period Reform, ITSA registration reform and what it expected the big issues of 2022 to be in the tax world. The Payroll panel considered the joys of IR35 and umbrella companies, the ongoing impact of the pandemic, the social care levy and HMRC performance. Finally, the Digital Advisory panel considered issues as diverse as the Metaverse to meeting the post-pandemic digital skills needs of the nation.

Probate fee reform to save taxpayer £20m+

Last year AAT was amongst a very small number of respondents to a government consultation on reforming probate fees. Probate is the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money and possessions (their "estate") when they die.

The government has agreed to align the fees for applications submitted by professional probate practitioners and personal applicants as recommended by AAT. Our decision to back proposals to increase the fees to cover the costs of administration also proved sound with government confirming it will now go ahead with these changes later in 2022.

Altogether, the changes are estimated to save the taxpayer £23-£25m a year.

Help to Grow

Our new Chief Executive, Sarah Beale, wrote to the Minister for Small Business to make clear that AAT supports the government’s objectives and ambition to improve the management expertise of SME’s but recommends changes to the Help to Grow: Management scheme in order to achieve this. This includes ending the exclusion of more than 90% of SMEs by reducing the qualifying threshold from companies employing five or more staff to 1one or more staff and making various other changes to the eligibility criteria.

The correspondence has been shared with a wide range of stakeholders, receiving positive feedback from numerous organisations large and small. Later this month AAT will be seeking to concentrate policy makers minds on making improvements to the second Help to Grow scheme, “Help to Grow: Digital” which is another great idea being implemented in a less than ideal manner.

Member engagement

AAT licensed members are represented on each of AAT’s external panels (Payroll, Tax, Digital Advisory) and this month made a significant contribution to the debates held by each.

All AAT members who responded to our survey on plans to reform ITSA (Income Tax Self-Assessment) for landlords and the self-employed were sent a copy of our consultation response on the subject.

Engagement with numerous AAT Licensed accountants also took place in relation to the HMRC waiver of penalties for Self-Assessment Tax Returns and on the issue of unregulated agents.

Parliamentary engagement

Engagement with 12 Parliamentarians took place in January, relating to unregulated accountants, education policy, tax reform, ISA reform and Help to Grow: Management.

Non-Parliamentary engagement

Engagement with a very large number of external stakeholders (more than 80) took place in January 2022. These included other tax and accountancy professional bodies, business representative groups including the FSB, CBI and BCC as well as R&D Tax Credit specialists and organisations from Tax Watch to FairShare and even the Vegetarian Society.

AAT consultations, calls for evidence & inquiry responses

Responses to three consultations were submitted in January. These were in response to the joint HMRC/BEIS/Treasury consultation on corporate re-domiciliation; the HMRC consultation on proposed changes to the registration process for landlords and the self-employed; and on HMRC's Call for Evidence on modernising the collection of the non-payment of business debts

Most of AAT's submissions are available on the AAT Policy page.

Other meetings, events and engagements

Adam Harper attended the regular Representative Bodies Steering Group (RBSG) with HMRC and Phil Hall attended an RBSG sub group on the issue of Self-Assessment tax deadlines.

• Phil participated in the regular HMRC Virtual Communications Group (VCG).
• Phil took part in a webinar Q&A and panel discussion on unregulated accountants and tax advisers with Forrest Brown and Old Mill attended by almost 100 advisers.
• Phil attended the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Apprenticeships (10% of AAT’s 80,000 students are apprentices).
• Adam and Sarah Beale met with Jim Harra, HMRC First Permanent Secretary & Chief Executive.
• Phil represented AAT at the regular Trade Association Forum hosted by the Federation of Small Businesses.
• Phil organised and chaired a meeting with the other main tax and accountancy bodies (ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA, CIOT, STEP, CIPFA) to discuss public affairs and policy activities.
• Phil and Sarah met with the new Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, to discuss AAT’s concerns in the FE sector, propose some solutions and provide additional information about our organisation.
• Phil attended an HMRC meeting with various other professional bodies to discuss government plans to introduce a Corporate Re-domiciliation regime.
• Phil and Sarah met with the Director of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to discuss how AAT and the OTS can work more closely together in the future.