Conveyancers have two weeks before HMRC’s tax register opens on 18 May. Handling SDLT payments is enough to trigger the obligation, even where the filing itself is outsourced.
The employer NIC bill came in at £28 billion, £4 billion above forecast. Cash ISA allowances are being cut and transfers back from stocks and shares ISAs are being closed off. Tax vacancies are falling overall, but the firm-level data tells a more fractured story.
Here’s the detail.
HMRC Confirms SDLT Filing Counts as Tax Advice Under New Registration Rules
HMRC has confirmed that filing a Stamp Duty Land Tax return on behalf of a client constitutes tax advice under the new mandatory tax register. Any firm that provides tax services for payment and interacts with HMRC falls within scope. Handling SDLT payments triggers that obligation even where the actual filing is outsourced.
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has called the regime a duplicate regulatory effort. Even so, HMRC has not indicated any flexibility regarding scope, and registration applies to specific individuals who have meaningful authority or control over the services provided. Online registration opens 18 May 2026, with a final deadline of 18 November for most firms.
- Online registration opens: 18 May 2026
- Final registration deadline: 18 November 2026
- Scope includes firms where SDLT filing is outsourced but payments are handled in-house
- Registration applies to individuals with meaningful authority over services provided
Check whether anyone in your firm or your clients’ firms handles SDLT payments on behalf of buyers. If they do, registration is required. Acting now avoids a compliance gap that lands at the worst point in the conveyancing calendar.
Employer NICs Cost Businesses £4 Billion More Than Treasury Forecast
Employer National Insurance Contributions cost businesses £28 billion in their first year, against a Treasury forecast of £24 billion. The 16% overshoot reflects how the increase interacted with actual payroll patterns, particularly in sectors with large part-time and lower-paid workforces where employer NIC costs land hardest. Redundancies in retail and hospitality have already followed.
The figure matters beyond its size. Clients who absorbed the increase in full are operating with a permanently higher cost base than they modelled before April 2025. Those who responded through headcount reduction carry different risks: employment tribunal exposure, reduced operational capacity, and potential HMRC scrutiny where redundancy processes were compressed. The 16% overshoot also leaves open a policy question: whether further adjustment is under consideration at the next fiscal event.
- Employer NIC cost in year one: £28 billion
- Treasury forecast: £24 billion
- Overshoot: £4 billion (16%)
- Sectors most visibly affected: retail and hospitality
Any client who has not revisited payroll cost modelling since April 2025 should do so now. Where restructuring decisions were made in response to the NIC rise, documenting the commercial rationale protects them if those decisions are examined later.
Cash ISA Allowance Cut to £12,000 as Treasury Pushes Savers Toward Stock Markets
From April 2027, the annual cash ISA allowance will be capped at £12,000. The remaining £8,000 of the £20,000 total allowance will be reserved for stocks and shares ISAs. The policy comes with a £50 million Treasury advertising campaign, designed by M&C Saatchi and built around a squirrel, aimed at encouraging savers to invest for five years or more.
The more consequential change is the anti-avoidance rule sitting alongside the cap. HMRC is concerned that investors will use stocks and shares ISAs as a temporary cash holding point before moving money back into a cash wrapper. The proposed fix makes that transfer impossible: once money enters a risk-based ISA, it cannot return to a tax-free cash wrapper. Clients who currently move between the two depending on market conditions need to understand that flexibility closes. The sequencing of ISA decisions will matter in a way it has not before.
- Cash ISA allowance from next year: £12,000
- Remaining £8,000 of total allowance: reserved for stocks and shares ISAs
- Treasury advertising budget: £50 million
- Proposed rule: transfers from a stocks and shares ISA back to a cash ISA will not be permitted
Identify clients who actively move between cash and stocks and shares ISAs. Those conversations need to happen before the rules are confirmed.
Tax Vacancies Set to Fall 10% in 2026 After Last Year's Record Surge
After a 19% surge in tax vacancies in 2025, hiring across the sector is expected to contract by 10% in 2026. The firm-level data tells a more instructive story than the headline figure. Deloitte is projecting a 68% increase in tax roles this year. EY is cutting tax hiring by 32%. The divergence between two firms of broadly comparable scale points to strategic choices about how tax resources are allocated.
Demand within the market is splitting along similar lines. Employment tax specialists and core corporate tax roles are seeing accelerating demand. Non-essential tax advisory functions are declining. Smaller firms watching the talent market should note that specialist candidates are not sitting idle: employment tax and corporate tax depth remain in demand, and those candidates have options.
- Tax vacancies expected to fall: 10% in 2026
- 2025 growth rate: 19%
- Deloitte projected tax hiring increase: 68%
- EY projected tax hiring reduction: 32%
- Growing demand: employment tax specialists, core corporate tax
- Declining demand: non-essential tax advisory functions
If you have open roles in employment tax or corporate tax, move on them early. Larger firms absorbing that candidate pool will not wait.
Also In The News & Updates
- Law Firm Accounting Breaches and SRA Closures | FigsFlow – Accounting failures account for a disproportionate share of SRA-mandated firm closures, new data shows.
- HMRC’s New Sanctionable Conduct Powers Explained – What the new conduct framework means for registered and unregistered advisers.
- Companies House WebFiling Flaw Exposed 5 Million Companies – A security vulnerability in the WebFiling system exposed the majority of registered UK companies to fraudulent filings.
- Tax Adviser Registration for Financial Firms Delayed to 2027 – Financial services organisations receive a later deadline as HMRC refines the registration framework.
- UK News and Updates for Accountants (24 April 2026) | FigsFlow – Last week’s round-up covering the stories that shaped the week for UK practitioners.
Conclusion
The employer NIC overshoot is the biggest fiscal number this week. The 16% gap between forecast and outcome is a figure worth having ready when clients raise it. The conveyancer registration deadline of 18 May is three weeks away, and the scope catches firms that assumed they were not affected.
The ISA anti-avoidance rule is the detail that alters real client decisions. And the tax jobs data, read firm by firm, suggests the market is splitting rather than simply contracting.
