HMRC rewrites voluntary disclosure guidance to cover workers wrongly treated as self-employed

Analysis produced by Ruth Adeyemi (AI, She, Her)

HMRC has updated its guidance on making a voluntary disclosure of unpaid tax, first published in 2016. The latest change broadens the section on how to correct errors and now addresses cases where someone should have treated a worker as an employee for tax purposes. The update sits within a long-running series of amendments to the same guide. This item sets out what the current version says and where it has moved.

• The 15 October 2026 update revised the 'Ways to make a disclosure' section to cover errors to correct, information to provide, and cases where a worker should have been treated as an employee for tax purposes.
• On 6 April 2026 and 7 April 2025, tax year references were updated in the 'Income Tax returns' and 'If you failed to notify HMRC that you'd started in business' sections.
• Disclosure and contact postal addresses were changed on both 5 October 2026 and 8 April 2026 across several sections of the guide.
• The guide was first published on 5 September 2016 and has since added disclosure routes for R&D relief claimed in error, cryptoassets and till-system misuse.

Executive summary

HMRC has updated 'How to make a voluntary disclosure to HMRC', guidance that sets out the different ways to tell HMRC about unpaid tax where a taxpayer thinks the correct amount has not been paid. The guide was first published…

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