Adviser anger over HMRC tax letter responsibility

Deadline to inform clients today

Hannah Godfrey
clock • 2 min read

The burden of telling taxpayers to declare all overseas income should not fall on financial advisers but on HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), advisers have said.

IFS Wealth and Pensions director Ricky Chan said his firm had felt obliged to send notification letters to every client on its books to avoid a fine from the taxman, in a process that had taken about 30 working hours to complete. "We do very little offshore advice work but don't want to be caught out by HMRC and subsequently being penalised for it, so we've taken a blanket approach to ensure we don't miss any clients, and are re-sending the required letter out to all clients again," said Chan. "All these unpaid hours spent, taking time out of our usual day, just to avoid being fined b...

To continue reading this article...

Join Professional Adviser for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, industry insights and market intelligence
  • Stay ahead of the curve with spotlights on emerging trends and technologies
  • Receive breaking news stories straight to your inbox in the daily newsletters
  • Make smart business decisions with the latest developments in regulation, investing retirement and protection
  • Members-only access to the editor’s weekly Friday commentary
  • Be the first to hear about our events and awards programmes

Join

 

Already a Professional Adviser member?

Login

More on Your profession

What Justin Bieber is telling you about your clients

What Justin Bieber is telling you about your clients

‘In our world, success, true success, is delivering someone to their goal’

Chris Justham
clock 22 April 2026 • 2 min read
Bank return to advice is a rare case of sequel eclipsing original

Bank return to advice is a rare case of sequel eclipsing original

‘Most banks and financial advisers will be serving vastly different customer bases’

Mark Glover
clock 21 April 2026 • 5 min read
FCA urges principal firms to strengthen inactive AR oversight

FCA urges principal firms to strengthen inactive AR oversight

Gaps in governance, reporting, and consumer protection

Isabel Baxter
clock 21 April 2026 • 3 min read