Insolvency technical update: February 2026

Read our latest insolvency technical update – your round-up of the recent developments in insolvency.

Contacting HMRC’s Member Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) team

From 2 February, the only way to contact HMRC’s MVL team is by completing the dedicated online form. Full information on this change was set out in HMRC’s IP Bulletin 9 (2025).

Tax advisor registration

HMRC has confirmed that tax adviser registration will become mandatory from 18 May 2026. Firms with existing Agent Services Accounts don’t need to take any action currently. 

The definition of tax adviser for the purposes of registration requirements is wide with an exemption for anyone interacting with HMRC because of a legislative requirement. This would include insolvency practitioners (IP) where an appointment is under insolvency legislation. The exemption wouldn’t cover pre-appointment interactions with HMRC.

Further information on the tax adviser registration scheme is available in this ICAS article.

AML High-risk third countries

Following the recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF)  session, Kuwait and Papua New Guinea have been added to the UK’s list of high-risk third countries. HM Treasury has updated it’s AML advisory notice.

Financial sanctions guidance

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI ) has updated its Financial sanctions guidance for insolvency practitioners.

Accountant in Bankruptcy changes

The Accountant in Bankruptcy has reorganised work within their teams. From 9 February 2026, the Bankruptcy Registrations team will now deal with Trustee debtor discharge reports (Appendix N), Trustee deferral of discharge applications and Section 147A Applications. Applications should continue to be made on BASYS as normal.

From the same date, the Compliance team now handles all Bankruptcy Restriction Investigations (BRIs). To support this change, dedicated contact details for all BRI enquiries have been set up:

Email: bri@aib.gov.uk
Phone: 0300 200 2620

IPs should ensure records are updated and use these details for all future BRI correspondence.

Standard Financial Statement (SFS) 2026/27 update

The SFS spending guidelines for 2026/27 come into effect on 6th April. The updated SFS excel tool will also be available on that date. The new guideline, along with commentary on the changes, are available to SFS membership organisations on the SFS website.

The Common Financial Statement continues to apply as the Common Financial Tool for the purposes of statutory debt solutions in Scotland.

INSSight rollout update

The Insolvency Service has provided an operational update on the rollout of their new case management system - INSSight. The update provides further information about platform stability improvements, delays to estate account closures and the latest IP templates.

The Disqualified Directors Compensation Orders (Fees) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026

The Department for the Economy (NI) will be able to recover fees in connection with time spent distributing to creditors amounts recovered under director compensation orders. The Order will be effective after an affirmative resolution has been passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Legal updates

CDI Realisations Limited In an unreported case, the court considered whether an administrator required the consent of preferential creditors where they had previously given a para 52(1)(b) statement and thought there would be a distribution to preferential creditors. When it later transpired that there wouldn’t be a distribution (via Squire Patton Boggs).