AI must be transparent, ethical and secure, says new ATT President

The new President of the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) said yesterday that while Artificial Intelligence (AI) can enable tax professionals to work more efficiently it needs to be used in a transparent, ethical and secure way. He also stated that the ATT’s exams will be adapting to ensure new members have the skills to use new developments in technology ethically and effectively.  

Graham Batty said this as he took office at yesterday afternoon’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the ATT. He also warned of the challenge HMRC faces in raising awareness of Making Tax Digital among unrepresented taxpayers, and expressed the ATT’s support for mandatory registration of tax professionals with a recognised professional body. 

The ATT’s leadership team for the next 12 months, who took up their posts at yesterday's AGM, are: 
President – Graham Batty 
Deputy President – Barry Jefferd 
Vice President – Eleanor Theochari 

Graham becomes the first ATT member to serve as president for two separate terms, having first held the post 2017-18. 

Speaking in his presidential address to the AGM, Graham Batty said – 

On MTD: 

“I am pleased to say that HMRC have become increasingly more open and engaged since 2017. There is a real sense that they are getting out there, speaking to agents and listening to their concerns… The agent community appears, overall, to have accepted MTD is really happening this time. Their focus is now shifting towards the practical challenges of getting ready for April 2026 - something which is also driving our offering to members.  

“On the less positive side there remain areas of confusion even at this late stage, including how the year-end ‘digital tax return’ will work in practice and how and when the digitally excluded will be able to apply for exemption. Alongside this, HMRC have a real challenge when it comes to raising awareness amongst the unrepresented, who remain largely ignorant of the change. With MTD for VAT, we saw significant numbers not signing up, which led HMRC to eventually close the old VAT portal. I imagine there will be a similar, if not even larger, problem with MTD for income tax.” 

On regulation: 

“[R]aising standards in the tax advice market is something the ATT strongly supports… ATT believe that of the three proposals [in HMRC’s March 2024 consultation] mandatory registration with a recognised professional body would be the best way forward. A hybrid version with HMRC would, in our view, be unworkable and an independent regulatory body – which we are not in favour of – would prove excessively bureaucratic and expensive.  

“Mandatory registration with HMRC’s Tax Adviser Registration Service clearly allows HMRC the opportunity to refuse to deal with agents whose work, in their view, includes unacceptable features such as high error rates and delays, allowing them to address the tax gap. However, it only addresses compliance issues and does not really provide any additional consumer protection. This will have to wait for the second phase. 

“While we are in favour of mandatory registration with a recognised professional body this does raise the question of what to do about agents already in practice but who are not already a member of one. They are, of course, free to register as a student and sit the exams, but this is not always practical as a transitional route. A test of competence and background checks to show good character before allowing membership could work but only as a short term interim measure. However, simply allowing them to apply for membership based on experience would be a step too far.” 

On AI: 

“The final challenge I should like to focus on is the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), and particularly generative AI, on the tax profession. Without doubt this offers significant opportunities for increased efficiency in how we work. However, a recent global study by KPMG and the University of Melbourne indicated that just over 50 per cent of the UK public perceive AI systems as trustworthy and only 33 per cent believe that current law and regulations, which appear minimal, make AI safe to use.  

“Accepting that AI is here to stay, what should we, as tax professionals, be doing? Three basic issues immediately spring to mind. 

“Maintaining professional scepticism is paramount. Where work is delegated, including to AI, you remain responsible for it which means having systems in place to review and verify AI output. I am sure you have all heard of the tax appeal hearing where all the cases cited by the appellant had been generated by AI and did not exist. 

“Given the need to review and verify AI generated output, how do we ensure that staff have the knowledge to do this competently. Simple with a letter, although given the standard of English one sometimes sees perhaps not, but what about technical issues if staff are not gaining experience by carrying out research themselves? How the ATT exams equip new members to do this is something we will be addressing. 

“Finally, AI needs to be used in a transparent, ethical and secure way. Transparent in that clients know when AI tools are being used, ethical in that you do not pass off AI generated work as your own and secure in that strong cyber security procedures are in place.” 

ENDS