HMRC’s performance data for 2025/26 shows it has made progress on customer service but still has a way to go, according to the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). The data shows a mixed picture with progress on compliance activity, digital adoption and HMRC’s telephone service. However, challenges remain around debt levels, correspondence handling and customer… Read more…

Targeted subsidies, rather than expensive tax breaks, are the most cost-effective way of supporting employers to get young people into work, according to Resolution Foundation analysis. The think tanks warns that the number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) passed one million earlier this year. It says this is a crisis… Read more…

The government is stepping up its efforts to reconnect young people with unclaimed savings in Child Trust Funds (CTFs). Around 6.3 million Child Trust Fund accounts were opened for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 201 More than 750,000 young adults still have unclaimed matured accounts, holding £2,200 on average and totalling… Read more…

Significant reforms to small business finance have been announced by the government. The centrepiece of the plans is an expansion of the British Business Bank’s (BBB) Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) which provides a 70% government guarantee on commercial loans to SMEs of up to £2 million. The scheme will scale up to facilitate an additional… Read more…

HMRC is reminding people with side hustles that they will need to tell it if they earn more than £1,000. The Help for Hustles campaign aims to assist individuals with side hustles to ‘get their tax right, quickly and easily’. New entrants to self assessment should register for the 2025/26 tax year by 5 October… Read more…

The government recently announced that VAT will be cut from household electricity bills from 1 October in time to impact the next Ofgem price cap. The move is part of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s commitment to help ease the cost of living. The cost of this immediate action for this financial year is being… Read more…

HMRC has urged customers not to ignore Simple Assessment letters for the 2025/26 tax year. HMRC issues around 1.8 million Simple Assessment letters and stated that people should check the figures in their letter against their own records. The letters will be sent to those who have tax to pay on income that has not… Read more…

More than 110,000 unrepresented taxpayers who must register for Making Tax Digital (MTD) from April 2026 have still not done so, according to the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG). LITRG’s estimates are based on official HMRC statistics on the number of unrepresented taxpayers it estimates will be in scope for MTD from April 2026,… Read more…

Government plans to extend the rules requiring some taxpayers to declare ‘uncertain’ tax positions risk creating more uncertainty, compliance burdens and tax disputes according to the CIOT. The uncertain tax treatment regime currently requires large businesses to flag uncertain interpretations of tax law to HMRC upfront if significant amounts of money are at stake. The… Read more…