‘The Nine’, it’s a horror film isn’t it? What about ‘The Carter Principle’ ­ didn’t Gene Hackman or Michael Caine star in that in the mid-70s?

Not on your nelly, according to the ICAEW. The Nine actually refers to the nine professional bodies urging HM Revenue & Customs to hold back on reining in self assessment deadlines.

As for the Carter Principle, well it’s a phrase coined by the bodies to describe Lord Carter’s recommendation that each new online HMRC service should be tested for a least a year before going forward with ‘full HMRC online’, which has been mooted for 2012.

Oh, you wanted the full list of bodies working together to turn around SA deadlines? Here goes: ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIoT, ATT, AAT, plus the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the Low Income Tax Reform Group…phew!