Guidance is an important part of the tax system – indeed, I would suggest that HMRC guidance is both legally appropriate and normatively desirable. At the VPG Annual Lecture this year in September[1] I advanced the claim that HMRC guidance is desirable as it advances the rule of law, thereby valuing human dignity, and produces efficiency.

Until recently however, HMRC guidance had escaped the attention of policymakers. Now however, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, HMRC, and the representative bodies are particularly interested in the issue. Importantly to this end, the Office of Tax Simplification (‘OTS’) has just produced a strategic review of HMRC guidance which seeks to provide a New Model for the future (accessible here). It contains 12 recommendations relating to the substance of HMRC guidance, the framework for its production, its reliability and how it might be integrated with new technology (Disclosure – I met with the OTS to discuss the framework for HMRC guidance when a review was first mooted).

The review merits reading not only for the recommendations that it proposes, but also for its incisive observations about the utility of HMRC guidance in the tax system. Later this month, I shall have an article in the Tax Journal reviewing the OTS recommendations in light of concerns over when you can and can’t rely on HMRC guidance.

[1] Please contact me if you would like a copy of the lecture.