HMRC updated its guidance on the registration of tax advisers twice yesterday (Monday), adding further detail to help businesses identify those who need to register.
In a statement accompanying the update, HMRC said: “Further detail has been added to help businesses identify their relevant individuals, as well as examples of the types of evidence that may be required for anti-money laundering checks.”
It adds: “If your business has 6 or more officers, first identify those who actually make strategic or management decisions about your tax advice work. Do not include all officers by default. In some cases, fewer than 5 officers will meet this definition. If this happens, you must choose additional officers so that you have at least 5 in total. You can choose which officers to include. They do not have to be the most senior or responsible for day-to-day tax advice.”
John Shallcross, stamp duty land tax specialist at Blake Morgan, said of the update: “The promise of ‘detail’ is a bit of an exaggeration, as there is just a tweak to the previous wording
“The key new wording which I believe will help conveyancers is the reference to identifying those who make ‘strategic or management decisions’. So someone who manages a post completion team is not thereby within the definition of ‘relevant individual’ in HMRC’s view, unless they also happen to be someone who makes strategic or management decisions about the firm’s ‘tax advice’ work.”
Last week, released a new service for organisations to check whether they must register as tax advisers under the new rules, effective from Monday 18th May 2026.
The tool asks users a series of questions to determine whether or not a firm will need to register.
When the tool was used to answer questions purporting to be from a conveyancing firm, the tool responded:
“From May 2026, HMRC will introduce a new digital registration system. HMRC will automatically move your existing account to the new system. As part of this process, HMRC will check that you meet the required standard. We will contact you through your agent services account when we need more information from you.”
The new rules will be rolled out over the coming months, with registration deadlines different compared to the size and status of advisers.
18 May to 18 August 2026: New tax advisers, or advisers interacting with HMRC without an agent services account (ASA), Self Assessment or Corporation Tax account.
18 August to 18 November 2026: Advisers with a Self Assessment or Corporation Tax account, but without an agent services account.
18 November 2026 to 18 February 2027: Advisers who solely provide payroll services.
31 December 2026 to 31 March 2027: Those who already have an ASA, and financial services organisations. A full definition for this group will be published in due course via secondary legislation.
Those who need to register will have three months from the start of their registration window to apply for an agent services account (ASA) and can continue to interact with HMRC during this period. If a firm already has an agent services account (ASA), they do not need to register again. HMRC will contact firms and advisers through their ASA if any additional information is needed to move them to the new digital system.
3 responses
The Latin root of “nuance” (nubes) “cloud” reminds us that nuance is about subtle shading that you only see when you truly look. It is an apt metaphor for conveyancing. Real work in this field is not mechanical. It is the ability to spot the faint change in tone, the detail that alters the whole picture.
John’s emphasis on subtle judgment reflects what genuine conveyancing demands, which is attention to the shades within the cloud, not just its outline.
Conveyancing factories built on linear thinking are structurally unable to cope with the nuance John identifies. Their model relies on eliminating subtlety, not engaging with it. Yet the risks our clients face live precisely in those gradations, the unusual covenant, the quiet red flag, the pattern only experience can read. These are not inefficiencies. They are the profession.
Clouds have shades for a reason. So does conveyancing.
Has anyone actually heard from Hmrc? Unfortunately the promised email has not been received by my firm and no one.in my circle of conveyancing contacts has heard anything either. What an absolute shambles.
The fact HMRC felt the need to update the guidance twice in one day rather suggests the operational and definitional issues are far from settled.
That uncertainty is only reinforced by the continued use of the term “tax adviser” in circumstances where regulated conveyancing professionals are carrying out routine legal and procedural functions connected to property transactions, rather than acting as specialist tax advisers in the ordinary understood sense of the term.
Many of these same concerns around definition, proportionality, consumer perception and unintended consequences were also raised by the Earl of Lytton during passage of the Bill.
Quite frankly, this level of uncertainty and evolving interpretation after enactment is not good enough.
Proper scrutiny, clarity and proportionality are needed before uncertain interpretation becomes embedded practice.