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HMRC is beginning to issue tax calculation letters (P800) and Simple Assessment notices (PA302) to collect any tax owed on bank and building society interest earned during the 2025-26 tax year. Some taxpayers may already have received a Simple Assessment for the 2025-26 tax year that did not include their savings interest. If HMRC subsequently receives details of that interest, it may issue a second notice covering the same tax year. This will show the total tax owed, including any amount from the original notice. Taxpayers should deduct any...

From 6 April 2027, employers must payroll taxable benefits in kind and expenses in real time, including company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel, and employer-provided medical benefits. Most other benefits will become subject to mandatory payrolling from April 2028, while employment-related loans and accommodation will remain voluntary. Employers wishing to payroll non-mandatory benefits voluntarily for the 2027-28 tax year will be able to register through HMRC’s online service from November 2026. The service will allow employers to register...

HMRC has introduced an automated payment process to speed up refunds for people who may have overpaid National Insurance contributions. The process has been in use since early summer, according to HMRC’s latest Agent Update. HMRC will write to people it identifies as potentially having overpaid, providing details of their past employment and National Insurance contributions. Recipients should check the information carefully and confirm that it is correct or provide details of any necessary changes. Taxpayers can respond to HMRC using the...

HMRC offers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) two voluntary advance assurance services to help provide greater certainty about Research and Development (R&D) tax relief claims before they are submitted. You can choose either a new targeted advance assurance service (also known as the advance assurance pilot) or the existing full claim advance assurance service. The new targeted advance assurance pilot was launched in May 2026 and will currently continue until May 2027. The pilot service allows eligible SMEs to seek assurance on...

New rules for Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) will take effect from 1 April 2027, changing how businesses account for chemically recycled plastic and removing pre-consumer plastic waste as an eligible source of recycled content. Under the new rules, manufacturers and importers will be able to use a mass balance approach to attribute chemically recycled plastic to packaging components. This allows recycled content to be calculated and allocated through a manufacturing process where recycled and virgin materials are mixed. Using the mass balance...

The UK-India Double Contributions Convention (DCC), which came into force on 15 July 2026 alongside the countries’ trade agreement, aims to prevent employees and employers paying social security contributions in both countries. It reciprocally extends the exemption period for eligible employees temporarily working abroad from 52 weeks to up to 60 months. HMRC has now clarified transitional arrangements for employees who were already working temporarily in the UK or India when the agreement came into force. Under these arrangements, employees...

A recent tribunal decision shows that calling an arrangement a "TUPE transfer" does not make it one. For accounting firms and their HR teams, the case reminds them that employment status turns on legal realities and not administrative assumptions. A specialist engineering and inspection business with around two dozen staff had always run payroll in-house. After a key team member was absent in early 2019, it outsourced payroll to an external provider, then switched to a second. From 2019 to 2022, it reclaimed input VAT charged by...

Businesses that engage freelancers, contractors and other self-employed workers may need to review their arrangements following a new Government consultation aimed at tackling bogus self-employment and improving protections for people who are genuinely self-employed. Bogus self-employment can arise where an individual is described as self-employed, but the practical working relationship suggests that they may actually be entitled to employment protections. The Government estimates that as many as 900,000 people could be affected and is...

Most businesses now depend on several software systems to manage everyday activities such as email, accounting, document preparation, customer records and internal communication, and as these systems become increasingly integrated it can become difficult and expensive to move from one supplier to another. The Competition and Markets Authority announced in October that it is examining competition and customer choice in the business software market, with particular attention being given to Microsoft because of the widespread use of its products...

Company directors who complete a self-assessment tax return should be aware of new mandatory reporting requirements that came into effect from the 2025-26 tax year. The changes mainly affect directors of close companies, including many owner-managed and family businesses. Previously, directors could voluntarily identify themselves as directors of close companies on the employment pages (SA102) of their tax returns. The new requirements make this information mandatory and introduce additional disclosures to help HMRC identify income received...