Lord Carter u-turns on filing dates

Accountants have declared victory after Lord Carter yesterday
announced his decision to change his recommendation to ministers for deadlines
on filing paper and online self-assessement tax returns.

He will now recommend that the deadline for online returns
remain at 31 January and the date for paper returns be moved to 31 October – a
change of one month.

Lord Carter first recommendations caused a storm of protest when
they were announced during this year’s Budget and were followed by
a
campaign to have them reversed.

A joint statement from the AAT, ACCA, ATT, ICAEW, the Irish
institute, ICAS said: ‘We welcome today’s announcement that on the basis of this
new evidence Lord Carter has revised his recommendation to ministers.

‘We believe that this announcement demonstrates clearly the
effectiveness of the process of discussion and dialogue in which we, H M Revenue
& Customs, H M Treasury and Lord Carter have engaged on this issue.’

In his statement yesterday Lord Carter said: ‘I have written to
the paymaster general saying that I wish to change my recommendations.’

But he added: ‘I do think at some point in the future this issue
will return.’ He said advisers should work with HMRC to assess what barriers
there are to bringing deadlines back. ‘Ten months is the best deal in the
world,’ he said.