As a new year approaches it is always tempting to speculate on the big issues facing the profession although 2018 is unlikely to eclipse the two Finance Acts of the last year bringing endless changes to tax rules on a retrospective basis. On balance 2018 may see less upheaval to the tax system but new IFRS standards are set to challenge company reporters while slow progress on Brexit negotiations continue to create uncertainty, says Sara White, editor of Accountancy

After a four decade long career working in tax, outgoing HMRC chairman Edward Troup, joined a CIOT roundtable in December to set out his thoughts for the future of the tax authority and the inter-relationship of tax advisers with HMRC and clients over the next few years, highlighting the increasing need to monitor  the quality of advisers and acknowledging the impact of Making Tax Digital

Christmas is coming and we are already thinking about what shiny new tax books we may get from Santa. You may shake your heads, but clearly Christmas means tax to some people, says Sarah Saunders, tax manager at RSM