HMRC has made the Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1144), a technical update to the PAYE Regulations 2003. The instrument was made on 30 October 2025, laid before the House of Commons on 3 November 2025, and comes into force on 24 November 2025. It is framed as administrative alignment rather than a change to PAYE liabilities.
Regulation 2 updates the interpretation section of the PAYE Regulations by replacing the definition of ‘Inland Revenue’-currently read as ‘any officer of the Board of Inland Revenue’-with ‘HMRC’. Because ‘HMRC’ in statute refers to the Commissioners together with officers, the effect is to permit Commissioners to exercise functions in the 2003 Regulations that had been read as officer‑only. This brings the Regulations into line with the governance model introduced by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.
Regulation 198(1) on the use of unauthorised electronic communications is also amended so that references to delivering information ‘to the Board of Inland Revenue or to the Inland Revenue’ are updated to ‘HMRC’. This is a textual substitution to reflect current institutional terminology; it does not change how electronic delivery is validated or rejected under Part 10.
The Explanatory Note states there is no substantive change to tax policy, so no Tax Information and Impact Note has been prepared. In practice, there are no changes to rates, codes, thresholds or RTI mechanics arising from this instrument, and employers’ PAYE calculations and filing schedules remain the same.
For payroll teams and software providers, the impact sits in governance rather than processing. Where the Regulations assign a function to ‘HMRC’, that act may now be carried out by a Commissioner or an officer. Employers should therefore expect that formal notices or directions issued under the Regulations may carry a Commissioner’s signature without affecting validity.
Electronic communications rules continue to operate as before. Approved and unapproved methods, evidential presumptions and requirements for large employers remain as set out in Part 10 of the 2003 Regulations; only the institutional name is updated by this instrument.
The instrument relies on section 684 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, which empowers HMRC to make PAYE regulations on assessment, collection and recovery. The consolidation of functions under the Commissioners and officers mirrors the statutory definition of ‘HMRC’ in section 4 of the 2005 Act.
The Regulations are signed by two Commissioners, Angela MacDonald and Jonathan Athow, underlining the administrative nature of the update: it tidies residual references to the former Inland Revenue and avoids duplication in regulation 198’s wording. Employers and advisers should ensure internal templates and compliance guides refer to ‘HMRC’ rather than ‘Inland Revenue’ from 24 November 2025.