Accounting bodies work together on SA filing
Statement of intent as accounting bodies look to turn around SA deadline decision
The UK’s largest accounting bodies are looking to take a delicate but urgent
approach towards lobbying the government over proposals to shift self-assessment
filing deadlines.
Following a meeting between the major accounting bodies on Monday, the
profession is set to work together to persuade the government away from shifting
SA filing deadlines several months forward. But discussions will be delicate and
private, according to attendees of the meeting.
‘We want to keep [discussions] behind the scenes,’ said ICAS assistant
director of tax Donald Drysdale.
But he confirmed that the bodies agreed that Lord Carter’s recommendation to
HM Revenue & Customs to shift the deadlines was ‘out of Carter’s remit’, and
would increase error rates on returns due to the rush to file.
The institutes expressed fears that the proposal on filing dates would
overshadow features of Lord Carter’s review of HMRC’s online services that have
been generally welcomed.
The statement of intent was signed by the ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA, ICAI, CIoT, ATT
and AAT.
Lord Carter has proposed moving forward self-assessment filing deadlines from
31 January to 30 September for paper returns and 30 November for online filing.