Conveyancers must register as tax advisers by Tuesday 18th August in order to comply with HMRC’s upcoming deadline, but concerns remain over the longer term impact for the sector.
Registration opened on 18th May with the deadline to register on Tuesday 18th August. HMRC has warned tax advisers who miss their relevant registration deadline may face restrictions on their ability to interact with HMRC on behalf of clients. Where advisers continue acting without registering when instructed to stop, HMRC may apply sanctions including financial penalties.
SDLT specialist John Shallcross from Blake Morgan reminded firms: “Having access to the HMRC portal for submitting SDLT returns does not mean the firm has an Agent Services Account. Some solicitors will have an Agent Services Account already, for example if they deal with the Trust Registration Service.” Firms with an existing agent services account do not need to apply again and will be contacted by HMRC with further information in April 2027.
Shallcross added the last three months have been “something of a roller coaster for conveyancers” particularly when it came to continuing to conduct SDLT calculations in-house, or outsourcing them: “Some firms selling outsourcing services were saying that if conveyancers did not submit land transaction returns they would not need to register as tax advisers. HMRC were consistent in their view that a conveyancer paying SDLT on behalf of its clients had to register. Conveyancers have had to accept the label of “tax adviser” for this purpose, though for many it does not sit well.”
Conveyancers came under HMRC’s new tax adviser registration requirements because they “interact” with HMRC when it comes to SDLT submissions. In guidance published at the opening of the registration process HMRC confirmed a conveyancer is likely to be acting as a tax adviser and required to register if, in the course of a business, they submit Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) returns to HMRC on behalf of clients, interact with HMRC about a client’s SDLT liabilities, make payments of SDLT or any other taxes arising from property transactions on behalf of clients, or otherwise interact with HMRC on behalf of clients in relation to SDLT or any other taxes arising from property transactions.
Although the process of registration has been a challenge for some, requiring several Government Gateway User IDs said Shallcross, HMRC “have been supportive in helping firms through the process”.
But, says Rob Hailstone, CEO of the Bold Legal Group, although registration has turned out to be relatively straight forward, it may only signal the beginning of any new regulatory burden: “As I suggested a few months back, maybe the Tax Adviser requirements will be a storm in an SDLT cup. And so it came to pass, or so it would seem. We (the Bold Legal Group) have only had a handful of queries to assist with, but on the whole, it has been very quiet. We need to remember though that the 18th August, although an important milestone, is not really the end. Maybe it is just the beginning?”
It’s a view shared by Ryan Hannah of Compass: ““Registration was always the visible hurdle, so it is tempting to file it under done and move on. The Law Society’s guidance, updated in June, is clear that registration is only the starting point. Firms are still expected to have a process for identifying complex matters and a referral route to deal with them properly. That is the real work now.
“The areas where liability tends to hide are mixed use, the higher rate surcharges and the reliefs, and those are exactly the ones a registered adviser is expected to spot and escalate rather than wave through. Clearing registration is the start of the scrutiny, not the end of it.”
