Out & About: North West Tax Clinic and pro bono tax advice

Abstract

Undergraduate students are very capable of providing effective tax advice. This is something that we discovered during the operation of the North West Tax Clinic (NWTC), the UK’s first student-led tax clinic. The clinic provided free and confidential tax advice to low-income individuals. Indeed, the students managed to save £15,000 of client money in the process. The NWTC is a collaboration between Lancaster University, the University of Central Lancashire and TaxAid, the national tax charity. The clinic adopts the same ethos as the charity: to help those who cannot afford to pay for professional advice to sort out their tax affairs. During its ten-week pilot between January and March 2020, the clinic helped 25 clients who were on an average income of £11,000 a year. When we consider that average gross earnings in the UK are about £27,500, these individuals fall far below that level. Common issues included submitting tax returns, removing individuals from the self-assessment system and
appealing against HMRC late filing penalties.