The Audit Trail
Practical guidance on P11D, IR35, MTD, AML/KYC, and audit — written for accounting professionals.
A year ago HMRC lost around £47 million to people logging into tax accounts that were not theirs. Multi-factor sign-in, and the end of quietly using a client's own login, are landing on agents this month. What changes, why the case law makes it more than IT housekeeping, and the two jobs worth doing before the end of June.
Read article →The substitution clause is the first thing most accountants reach for on an IR35 file. After Autoclenz, Atholl House and PGMOL, it is also the test where the case law has moved fastest. Four questions every PSC file should be answering in writing, before HMRC is the one asking them.
Read article →On Thursday I watched a webinar on AI leadership in regulated financial services, framed for insurance but with the same questions about to land in UK accountancy. A few of the lines from the panel stayed with me, and what they mean for accountancy practices buying AI tools right now.
Read article →I went to Accountex expecting to find the accounting profession deep in AI strategy. What I actually found was a profession still working out what AI means for it — and a set of foundational questions most firms have not yet answered.
Read article →Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is mandatory from April 2026 for clients with gross income above £50,000. Here is how to identify which clients are in scope, what they need to do, and what your practice needs to set up before the quarterly deadlines hit.
Read article →HMRC Connect 2.0 cross-references RTI, P11D, DVLA, and Companies House data automatically. Here is what triggers an investigation — and how accounting practices can get ahead of the 6 July deadline.
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