23 January 2023 
Julia Ascott, Employment Taxes Specialist
During our recent quarterly update with HMRC, the HE team confirmed that they had commenced (or will commence in the next month) around a dozen employer compliance reviews in the sector. We understand that a couple of universities have already received this notification but we would like to request other universities let us know if/when they receive notification from HMRC.
HMRC explained the process of the review, which they refer to as CCM Lite. This involves an initial meeting with relevant stakeholders to establish the university’s working practices and gain an overview of the different employer duties categories. This meeting will either take place in person or virtually. It will then be followed up with correspondence and/or meetings to discuss specific areas of focus which may have been flagged during the initial meeting.
HMRC will certainly review off-payroll working rules as part of their review. To assist with your preparations, you might want to watch Deloitte’s most recent ‘Dbriefs’ on latest IR35 developments. The webcast spent some time looking at what HMRC would ask for and how employers can be proactively prepared for a compliance check.
