Professional drivers, taxi driver and private hire drivers, as well as scrap metal dealers who require a licence to operate are to face compulsory registration for tax from April 2022. To be able to apply for their trading licences, they must previously have registered on the Government Gateway and completed a tax check. The licencing authority can only issue the licence on the condition that a tax check has been completed, hence ‘conditionality’.
No tax check, no licence.
Who is affected?
In this first wave, those applying for licences in:
- taxi and private hire sector
- scrap metal sector
will have to comply, whether applying for a renewal or a licence for the first time.
How to register
- If you don’t already have a login to the Government Gateway, register now
- Complete the tax check
- Make the necessary disclosures about your past income
Possible problems
- If you have not yet registered for self assessment, there is likely to be a delay in processing your tax check
- To avoid further holdups, your address and any other details should be the same as those that you have previously entered
- Start the process as soon as possible to avoid HMRC IT and website issues
- Talk to your operator if you have one, who should be able to help you further
Who’s next?
Compulsory registration is expected to be rolled out to other sectors in due course:
- Waste management
- Private security
- Retail and trade
- Houses in multiple occupation
- Private rental
Who can help?
If you believe you may be affected, please get in touch for further advice. We can help with your Self Assessment preparation and filing. If you have not declared all your previous income to HMRC, whether intentional or not, it’s worth talking to us to find our how to fix this situation.
