HMRC urged to improve compliance, reduce error and ease pressure

Both HMRC and the government are being urged to commit to practical reforms this year to improve the tax system.

Focus on processes that are no longer working

There are calls for the government to focus on fixing processes within the system that are no longer working as intended, and are instead creating confusion, delay and unnecessary contact with HMRC.

Key recommendations

The Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) has published its ‘top 10’ asks for the tax system in 2026, suggesting things like:

• Allowing taxpayers to remain in self-assessment by choice even if they no longer meet formal filing thresholds.
• Overhauling Simple Assessment, which affects more than 1.3 million taxpayers a year. This system was designed to reduce administrative burdens, but generates around 500,000 calls a year to HMRC.

• Introducing a secure, two-way digital communication with HMRC for taxpayers and agents, as well as a case-tracking system so users can see when correspondence, claims and returns have been received and processed.
• Simplifying the taxation of the state pension, giving pensioners a clear year-end summary of their taxable pension to reduce errors and confusion.
• Reviewing outdated allowances eroded by inflation.
• Reassessing the marriage allowance.
• Providing dedicated support from HMRC during the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD).
• Simplifying inheritance tax by merging the nil rate band and residence nil rate band.

To find out more about contracting, please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com.