Senior Accounting Officer, the latest viewsHMRC’s view and business’s outlook on the SAO legislation |
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Download Background
This slide deck was featured at a breakfast briefing on 13 October. Kate Ramm of HMRC spoke about the regulator’s view of how they see the legislation working. Peter Gurr and Mark Kennedy of Deloitte spoke about their experiences of working with clients and how the market is reacting.
Key findings
Over 100 respondents from across business were asked on their views of the SAO legislation:
- 41% of companies say they have so far done nothing to achieve compliance, despite the fact only 8% are completely comfortable their organisation could provide the necessary sign off, given their current arrangements (compared to 4% in May);
- However, a third of firms (32%) are not intending to make use of the ‘light touch’ offered by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in the legislation for the first year, a third (36%) say they will, though a further third (32%) are still undecided;
- 84% of firms believe that it will cost at least £50,000 to achieve compliance with SAO legislation. 11% of firms think it will cost £250,000 or more (up from 5% in May);
- Half of firms say VAT is the area of tax which is causing them most concern, followed by PAYE (23%), corporation tax (19%), Excise & Duties (5%) and all other taxes (3%);
- 40% of firms believe the SAO legislation will not achieve its stated aim of putting tax compliance on the agenda of the boards of UK companies;
- 75% of tax professionals believe the SAO legislation will give them the resources and the opportunity to carry out transformational rather than merely compliance work in their tax department now or in the future.