30 October 2026
Budget 2026
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey MP, delivered his Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Analysis of the tax announcements can be found on our dedicated Budget website, including our commentary on individual measures. A recording of our EMEA Dbriefs webcast on the Budget is available to watch on demand.
HMRC publish Guidelines for Compliance 22 on Real Time Information reporting errors
HMRC have published the latest in their Guidelines for Compliance (GfC) series. GfCs are intended to help taxpayers and their advisers understand HMRC’s view on particular issues and include best practice examples. New GfC22, Help to prevent payroll errors and PAYE RTI disputed charges, is aimed at employers, tax agents and professional bodies advising on Real Time Information (RTI) reporting. The GfC explains the most common RTI reporting errors that can lead to disputed charges, suggests how such errors might be prevented, and explains what to do if a mistake is made.
HMRC guidance: interaction of legal professional privilege and anti-avoidance powers
On 23 October 2026, HMRC published a new collection of guidance titled HMRC’s view on how legal professional privilege interacts with anti-avoidance powers. The guidance sets out HMRC’s view of how legal professional privilege applies in HMRC’s interactions with tax avoidance cases. The guidance includes two sub-pages which cover (i) the principles of legal and professional privilege, and (ii) examples of the interaction between legal professional privilege and tax avoidance cases.
National Audit Office publishes report on HMRC’s management of tax debt
On 23 October 2026, the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report on HMRC’s management of tax debt, examining whether HMRC are well placed to reduce the tax debt balance while managing the flow of new tax debt. The NAO notes that HMRC have reduced tax debt from 5.6% of tax receipts in 2022-23 to 4.7% in 2025-26, supported by increased staffing and greater use of credit reference data, with measures introduced since 2021 estimated to have raised an additional £10.7 billion. According to the report, HMRC expect tax debt as a proportion of receipts to fall to between 2.9% and 4.2% by 2029-30, but do not expect to reach the former Exchequer Secretary’s 2.5% target until a later date. The NAO concludes that preventing new debt will be key to reducing the debt balance sustainably and cost-effectively in the long-term, and that HMRC should improve staff productivity and its understanding of which debt-management interventions are most effective in different circumstances.
EMEA Dbriefs webcasts
As a reminder, the next EMEA Dbriefs webcast will take place on Tuesday 3 November 2026 at 14.00 GMT/15.00 CET. In Cross-border workforce mobility across Germany and the Benelux: key rules, risks and emerging trends, we will consider the new challenges arising for both employees and employers managing tax, payroll, social security, and other obligations across multiple jurisdictions, as cross-border working has become a permanent feature of the modern workforce. Our panel of specialists from Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands will use real life-scenarios to explore early risk identification, strengthening governance processes and supporting a compliant cross-border workforce.
On Wednesday 4 November 2026 at 12.00 GMT/13.00 CET, Kunal Patel will be hosting The future of employment tax: taking action on global trends for reward & HR. In the webinar we will consider the rapid transformation of the global employment taxes landscape. We will explore the shift towards digital and real-time reporting, and enhanced tax authority data capabilities; increased scrutiny and enforcement from tax authorities, including advanced data analysis and AI; the growing regulatory focus on contingent workers; addressing the complexities of Benefits-in-Kind reporting; and leveraging technology to build robust, tech-enabled employment tax functions for oversight and compliance.