Conveyancers have been explicitly named in parliament as falling within scope of HMRC’s mandatory tax adviser registration regime, as ministers confirmed during Finance Bill Committee proceedings that the policy is proceeding without carve outs or signs of retreat.
During committee scrutiny of the Finance Bill last week, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Dan Tomlinson, set out the government’s position on who will be required to register with HM Revenue and Customs when interacting with the department on behalf of clients.
Introducing the provisions, Mr Tomlinson told the committee that “anyone paid to interact with HMRC on behalf of clients – for example, by submitting tax returns or other information to HMRC – will fall within scope of the requirement to register.”
He went on to clarify that those affected span multiple professions, stating that businesses and individuals required to register include “chartered accountants, bookkeepers, payroll specialists and conveyancers who interact on behalf of taxpayers for stamp duty land tax.”
Ryan Hannah, managing director at Compass, a specialist provider of outsourced SDLT calculation and submission services, commented:
“These remarks remove any ambiguity about whether conveyancers submitting SDLT returns fall within scope. Conveyancers were not referenced indirectly or by implication but were named explicitly as a profession captured by the legislation.”
The stated intent is to identify who is acting on behalf of taxpayers, improve transparency, and prevent unregistered or harmful actors from dealing with HMRC. There has been no indication from ministers that conveyancers will be excluded at later stages or that the scope of the requirement will be narrowed.
For the conveyancing sector, the message from parliament is clear. Conveyancers have been explicitly named, the policy is advancing, and there is no sign that this requirement is going away.
