Evidence on HMRC powers to be given to Lords Finance Bill Sub-Committee

These public evidence sessions will have remote participation by witnesses and Committee members. The session will be streamed live on Parliament TV.

The first session will begin at 4pm. Giving evidence will be:

• Tom Henderson, Technical Officer, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG)
• Jason Piper, Head of Tax and Business Law, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• Will Silsby, Technical Officer, Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT).

The second session will begin at 5pm. Giving evidence will be:

• Joanne Green, Tax Accountant, Building Societies Association
• Sarah Wulff-Cochrane, Principal, Taxation Policy, UK Finance.

The topics that will be covered include:

• The likely effectiveness of tax checks for licence renewals in tackling non-compliance.
• If there is enough clarity about the form tax checks will take and the timetable for them.
• How well these changes have been communicated to licence holders.
• Whether HMRC’s strategy for combating promoters of tax schemes is the right one.
• The justification for removing the requirement for HMRC to obtain tax tribunal approval before seeking third party information from financial institutions

More on this inquiry

On Monday 12 October the Committee took evidence from the Institute of Licensing (IoE), British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) and other bodies on the Government’s plan to give HMRC the power to conduct tax checks on license renewal applications. You can watch this session back on Parliament TV.

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee’s inquiry is focussing on three areas of the draft Finance Bill 2020–21, all of which are related to the powers of HMRC:

• New proposals for tackling promoters and enablers of tax avoidance schemes;
• New tax checks on licence renewal applications; and
• Amendments to HMRC’s civil information powers.

This inquiry has its own web page.