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HMRC launch new wire for agents

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10th Sep 2007
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HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched 'Agent Update', a regular electronic round-up for the agent community.

The new, bi-monthly publication includes a summary of recent HMRC announcements, publications and guidance of interest to tax agents and advisers, together with links to further information on the HMRC website. The information is divided into three sections

  • Tax
  • HMRC Service & Updates
  • Business & Finance.

The first edition includes links to: the latest information on HMRC help for customers affected by the recent floods and foot and mouth; new Money Laundering Regulations; and the latest HMRC podcasts. It also includes entries on three key changes coming into effect in October - changes to VAT invoicing, new Construction Industry Scheme penalties, and mandatory online filing for registered pension schemes.

HMRC plans to distribute Agent Update to trade and professional bodies. It can also be downloaded from the HMRC website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/agents

Welcoming the Update, Paul Gray, HMRC Chairman, said:
"HMRC produces a great deal of information of relevance to agents, and we hope Agent Update will help keep agents up-to-date with the most important information, in an accessible, timely and user-friendly way.

"The Update will establish a new way of talking to agents through their trusted intermediary organisations, and we are delighted that so many have agreed to distribute it on our behalf."

Accountingweb’s Tax Zone Editor, Nichola Ross Martin welcomes the new publication, she says: “For the past two years I have been trying to summarise the main changes and announcements which appear all over HMRC’s website for Accountingweb's readers; it is an arduous task, not helped by the fact that not every relevant or interesting change appears in the “What’s new section”. This will make my job a lot easier for sure, and HMRC editors have certainly got their work cut out!

It is worth noting that your average agent these days is simply overwhelmed by information, and people come to me time and time again for concise summaries. I appreciate that it is difficult for HMRC to issue guidance without also issuing a full range of caveats, but I genuinely believe that sometimes “less is more”, and whilst this new publication is great it comes in addition to "Working Together" and the "Employer Bulletin", both of which agents feel duty bound to read. If one could summarise the key points of these two into the Agent version, HMRC might be onto a winner."

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Tony Margaritelli, ICPA Chairman
By Tony Margaritelli
12th Sep 2007 17:12

HMRC Agent Alerts and ICPA
The ICPA have like the ICAEW and others agreed to forward HMRC Agent Alerts to our members by email.

We will also maintain a copy of each alert on our website for reference purposes.

Any members who has not received the first Agent Alert should contact us to check email addresses.

Tony Margaritelli - ICPA

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By JSJ54
11th Sep 2007 12:21

HMRC & RSS
The Tax Faculty of the ICAEW have said this:

HMRC does not plan to set up its own electronic mail-out service to send out the Agent Update, and has asked professional bodies to distribute it to their members. The Tax Faculty is happy to do this in the same way as we alert members to other new HMRC publications – by putting a news tem on our website and in our newswire when a new issue comes out, accompanied where appropriate by explanatory comments of our own.

We should be interested to know what practitioners think of HMRC’s Agent Update – send your comments or suggestions to [email protected]

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By NeilW
10th Sep 2007 15:49

RSS Feed anyone?
Why is it that some parts of HMRC know what an RSS feed is (manual updates for example), and others don't?

Periodicals need a feed in this day and age, then we can get the computers to poll for new stuff for us.

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