Accountants Baker Tilly have been quick to point out that the revised version of the IR20 booklet IR20 ‘Residents and non-residents: liability to tax in the United Kingdom’ which was published on HMRC’s website on 6 May is not new at all.
George Bull, head of tax points out that “the “new” booklet is a revised version of the 1999 edition of the booklet but it takes no account of the major changes that were announced in the Budget and are in the Finance Bill currently before Parliament.
For example this version of IR20 includes no mention of:
- the change to the day-counting rule to include any day when a person is present in the UK at midnight;
- the new £30,000 charge on non-domiciliaries who have been UK-resident for over seven years and who wish to claim the remittance basis; or
- the changes to the remittance basis itself.
A booklet dated after the announcement of major changes might be expected to include reference to those changes. Publication of this slightly revised document can only add to confusion and uncertainty in a difficult area.”
HMRC says that it does not intend to publish the fully-revised version of IR20 until after the Finance Bill has become law.
Verdict: This is just going to cause confusion. What is the point in publishing just before the forthcoming Finance Bill changes?
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