Reconciliation

The annual "year end reconciliation" process is due to begin in the second half of July at HMRC. The FT reports that approximately 1.2M people have underpaid tax in the 2010/11 tax year, the average money owed being around £500-£600.

Within the 1.2M are an estimated 160,000 who received the basic state pension for the first time in the 2010/11.

HMRC will also be issuing between 1.7m to 3.5m repayments towards the end of July of around £340 per person.

HMRC is of the view that it is in a "much better place" this year, as the new computer system is "working fast and efficiently".

In theory, once the real time PAYE system is introduced and fully operational by 2014, these reconciliations will be consigned to history. However, as I noted last week, that deadline may well be missed.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Morale Boosters III - Thursday Funday

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted the following comment advising taxpayers with tax queries to raise their questions with large HMRC enquiry centres this Thursday.

For why?

Read on:

"A MESSAGE TO ALL PEOPLE WHO ARE UPSET OR IN DISPUTE WITH HMRC:

They are sending as many higher grade staff into larger enquiry centres on Thursday to keep them open, so if you have a gripe or just want to get to talk to a higher grade or you want to see how little they know about tax (and most of them have never advised in an enquiry centre in their lives) visit a large enquiry centre on Thursday or just go in an request a payment they will not have a clue.

I heard a rumour today that they have thrown their toys out of the pram and want a regular enquiry centre worker with them as they don't know what to do.

Go make their lives as miserable as possible."

It certainly seems as though this will be an excellent opportunity to talk to a higher grade HMRC staff member:).

Those of you who try this, please let me know how you get on.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Morale Boosters II - Erratum

Yesterday I noted that sweets were handed out during recent site visits by HMRC directors.

It has been brought to my attention that there is an inaccuracy in what I wrote. Apparently not every site visit was accompanied by the ritual distribution of sweets.

A loyal reader commented:

"we didn't get a bloody sweet!!! all we got was two directors spending half an hour talking about there own career history then a few platitudes.."

Apologies for the error in the original article:)

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Morale Boosters

My thanks to a loyal reader who dropped me a note few days ago about an internal communications "initiative" that is apparently underway within HMRC.

It seems that HMRC leadership are having trouble understanding why the staff survey results are so bad (could it be that the upper echelons have, in the past, been fed a false picture about morale within the "glorious 103rd" by their front line management teams?).

Anyhoo, I am given to understand that groups (3 in at least one group) of directors are conducting site visits with the purpose of trying to convince staff that HMRC and the staff of HMRC are in safe hands.

During one hour of the visit 500 members of staff were taken away from their work to participate in a little quiz, and to listen to HMRC's Customer-centric (they actually used that phrase) propaganda. At the end of the meeting each staff member was given a sweet.

These visits are going to take place every 6 weeks or so.

All very nice, maybe.

However, this exercise seems to be missing the point of trying to understand why the survey results are so bad. Instead it appears to be trying to manipulate morale, in order to provide a less than dreadful result in the next survey.

Feel free to post your experiences/views of these visits, either in the comment box or directly to me.

Oh, and by the way folks, never accept sweets from strangers!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Events Dear Boy, Events!

The BBC reports that a leaked HMRC document ("People and Offices Plan") indicates that only one (Cardiff) of eight Welsh HMRC sites is guaranteed to remain open until 2020.

PCS are to meet HMRC to query the perceived threat to the long term jobs of 1,200 staff at the other Welsh offices (eg Swansea).

HMRC said there were no new office closure announcements.

To be honest even if the document categorically stated that all jobs in Wales were guaranteed, that "guarantee" would be meaningless. Governments and organisations (no matter how honest/evil they are) can no more see into the future, and control events, than Canute could turn the tide back.

We are all at the mercy of "events", no matter how clever and farsighted we think we are.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Universal Credits Delayed

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the government's plans for an all "singing and dancing" universal credit system, scheduled to be up and running by 2013, may in fact be a tad delayed.

The Guardian reports that the new IT systems, that will link Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC, necessary for universal credits will not be ready on time.

Quel surprise!

Politicians don't do IT!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Help!

AccountingWeb recently summarised Louise Fernandez v HMRC (TCO1123), in which the taxpayer challenged two fines for filing her self-assessment tax returns 11 months late, on 3 December 2010.

Ms Fernandez experienced problems logging into HMRC's website to file her Self Assessment tax returns, seemingly she had been given the wrong activation codes.

Anyhoo, she then emailed HMRC (using the email address she had been given by them) to inform them of her difficulties accessing the site.

Unfortunately she didn't receive a reply.

For why?

She had emailed the VAT helpdesk, rather than the Self Assessment helpdesk.

Geraint Jones, presenting judgement, was unimpressed with HMRC's non response to Ms Fernandez's email. He noted wryly:

"It seems little point having a [Inland] Revenue helpline if it doesn't offer any help."

He accepted that Fernandez had a reasonable excuse for submitting her tax return late, but said that the second fine should stand, given that it took her another 11 months to file her return.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Strike Threat

AccountingWeb reports that there will be a strike by HMRC staff on 30th June.

PCS conducted a strike ballot and 60% of a 32% turnout (19% of the membership) voted to go on strike in protest over pension changes, job cuts and a pay freeze.

The strike will cause delays in answering phone and postal queries.

Given that taxpayers are "customers", those who are dissatisfied with further delays can simply take their business elsewhere;).

PCS warn of possible further strikes in the autumn.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Advice To Mike Clasper

Dear Mike,


Re yesterday's meeting with AccountingWeb:

1 Taxpayers are not customers

2 HMRC is not a farking business!

Yours sincerely

Ken Frost

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The Robots Are Coming

The Guardian reports that HMRC are going to use robots (internet bots) to hunt down tax evaders.

The bots will scour the net to find people who are trading without telling HMRC that they are trading/earning an income.

Used in conjunction with HMRC's Connect IT system, HMRC will be able to identify anomalies between such elements as bank interest, property income and lifestyle indicators.

Apparently, before launching the bots, HMRC is seeking input from interested parties.

Well all of this sounds very "nice", if it works and is not used as an excuse to "stiff" people with overinflated tax bills on the pretext of an erroneous red flag from a bot.

My questions to those who work for HMRC;

- Will this actually work as it is claimed "on the tin"?

- What will HMRC do with all the data it collects on innocent people etc, that is not relevant to a specific tax evasion case?

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

ICAEW Survey

The ICAEW Tax Faculty is conducting a survey into HMRC's service standards.

Quote:

"..we continue to receive reports of lengthy delays related to communication.."

The survey can be accessed via this link: Survey

Given that HMRC regard us all as "customers", I am sure that they will be keen to follow up on the results.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC's Back Door Probes

Last December HMRC announced that it would visit companies to inspect records (via a pilot scheme known as the Business Records Check Scheme); those companies that fell short of its "standards", wrt record keeping, would face full-scale investigations and potential fines of up to £3K (once the scheme was fully implemented).

The pilot version of the scheme began in March, with a "promise" by HMRC that penalties would not be levied during the pilot stage.

Can you guess what happened next children?

Yes, that's right, HMRC appears to have broken its "promise".

The Telegraph quotes Mike Down, head of tax risk and investigation management at Baker Tilly, who said that its accountants had observed HMRC officers telling small business owners "there was no pilot" and record-keeping penalties would be pursued if "anything was found to be wrong".

"If HMRC is genuinely looking to improve the standard of record keeping, rather than investigating traders by the back door, then the department must make sure it plays by the rules."

Ah now you see there are "rules" and there are "rules", it all rather depends on whether you are HMRC, or an SME.

The Telegraph were told by HMRC:

""We are not seeking to apply the penalty provision during [the pilot] other than in exceptionally serious cases.

In [most cases] the approach will be to assist in improving the business records, where there is a need."

So that's alright then!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The "Strike" That Dare Not Speak Its Name III

A small update from the front line of the HMRC "strike", a loyal reader advises me that there appears to be some confusion within the ranks of HMRC management about what's going on and what to do.

Seemingly, to date, a veritable avalanche (20 actually) of emails and spreadsheets have been sent to managers (by the "upper echelons") who have been asked to fill in all the different scenarios about whether pay should be docked or not in the end.

Apparently, the word from the frontline is that no one has a clue as to what is going on; but the emails being sent to management keep coming!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Fraud Matters

UKauthorITy.com reports that Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, in an interim report has claimed that steps taken to tackle fraud worth £21BN a year across the public sector had saved £12M in their first few months.

Maude said that eight pilot projects had had shown "immediate and startling results" and signalled the end of the "pay first, check later" culture.

One of the projects involved HMRC, which spent (Maude uses the Gordon Brown weasel word "invested") £1M on an "innovative" screening technique for tax credit applications. The tool analyses information provided by prospective claimants on their tax credit application form, compares this against internal and external data, from credit reference agencies for example, and decides the likelihood of the application being fraudulent.

"HMRC piloted the exercise on approximately 4,000 new tax credit applications to test proof of concept and subsequently piloted the new process preventing losses of £10.63m between September 2010 and March 2011".

That seems to be a positive result. However, there still appear to be fraud issues in other areas that need to be addressed.

The ICAEW report the following:

"We have just been advised by one of our members that self assessment tax return fraudsters have struck again...

..the fraud involves repayment claims which are submitted to HMRC online using valid log in details and passwords, requesting payment to a third party bank account."

This chimes with an email I received recently from a loyal reader, who advised me that 91 of his accountant's files had been hacked (it is not clear as to whether the security issue is a failing of an HMRC system, the Government Gateway website or at the accountant's office). I reproduce the text of his email in full:

"We recently returned from holiday to the news that 91 of our accountant's client accounts had been hacked at the HMRC Government Gateway Website, in short hackers had accessed information on 91 individuals or organisations and had entered false end of year accounts in order to claim Self assessment refunds.

The individuals responsible for the aforementioned fraud had managed to set up 91 separate accounts in various banks in the UK and had provided HMRC with the false account numbers and sort codes in order that payments were made direct.

Our accountant spent days talking to HMRC officials advising them of the fraud and I tried constantly to contact them at .70 pence per minute to no avail, I telephoned the police at both Peterborough and Scotland Yard who both said "well it's not your money why worry".

I contacted a corporation tax official who was horrified and did what she could but hit a brick wall, the National Fraud helpline were unable to help and my MP (name supplied) did not have the decency to respond to either my telephone call or my e mails.

Well guess what, we then received a letter from HMRC to advise us that the refunds were on their way to what we knew were false accounts, they actually paid out, HMRC now apparently know what they have done but to add insult to injury they have now started to send demands for repayment to the people who's accounts had been hacked, I myself received one this morning.

This is my last attempt at bringing this matter to light.."

In a further update, it seems that HMRC have now admitted that my loyal reader owes them nothing.

The above indicates that, whatever Maude says, there are still issues that need to be addressed.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The "Strike" That Dare Not Speak Its Name II

It seems that PCS has managed to tie itself up in knots over the "strike" action that it has planned for this week.

A loyal reader advises me that HMRC are going to dock the pay of all employees who take part in the "strike".

I am further advised that PCS have posted a response to queries they are receiving from their members on their website (note, I cannot find it on the site), which I quote word for word as sent to me by the loyal reader (if this quote is inaccurate please advise and I will correct/remove):

"The main bulk of the questions we are getting here, and no doubt the questions you are getting from your members, are about whether time should be recorded as flexi leave or industrial action.

The fact that we are asking members to be out of work at set times amounts to strike action. The first thing to make clear to members is that it is not for PCS to determine whether the department deduct time or money for taking strike action.

What we can say is that the department cannot take both time and money for the same period of action.

Equally, however, in some areas the department want members to record the whole time as a flexi debit so that members simply take time off work and then have to work the time back again at some later point.

Therefore, we are asking members to record at least some time as industrial action."

All clear now?

Seems like a complete mess to me.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC's Oscars - Lawress Hall

Further to yesterday's article about HMRC's Oscars, one loyal reader speculated that the venue for the Oscars is probably Lawress Hall (owned by HMRC).

I have done a little digging, and have found a couple of links that give a little more detail about the venue.

The Lincolnshire Police website (seemingly they use the location sometimes as well) has a couple of pictures.

This link takes you to an effusive 5 out of 5 review of the place made by the Programme Director for HMRC's Spring School.

I am happy to post any other details that people may have about the place, eg potential market value of sold, occupancy rates during the year, cost to HMRC of running the place etc.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC's Oscars

I am gemused to read that HMRC has decided to treat its long suffering staff to an evening out on 29th September.

The Sun reports that HMRC will be holding an in house awards night and sleepover for 100 of its top performers at a country retreat in Lincolnshire (authorised by Lesley Strathie no less), at a cost of £13K.

HMRC are of the view that staff have "gone the extra mile for the taxpayer", as such 8 "gongs" (including "Customer Service") will be awarded.

I don't question that rewarding staff for good performance is a good thing. However, I am not entirely convinced that an "Oscar" night will really be that meaningful to the staff, nor do I think that the political ramifications of taxpayers funding this event (given the performance and "brand reputation" of HMRC) have been entirely thought through.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The "Strike" That Dare Not Speak It's Name

ROFLOL!!

Anonymous said...

"We asked a union rep this afternoon why we were not told and he said "it's on PCS site" yes like we all sit avidly reading their website every minute we get.

How can we take the union seriously when it's members are officially told from Strathie."

Those who belong to PCS may care to ask themselves (or more pertinently, PCS) why PCS chose to communicate the details about the "strike" via the PCS website, the Grande Dame and indirectly via this site; rather than the more normal route of direct communication with their members?

In the event that anyone has the answer please let me know.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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Trouble At Mill

My thanks to a loyal reader who alerted me to the fact that the PCS has stirred into "life".

Apparently there will be some form of "industrial action" (PCS rather over hypes it by calling it a "strike") next week.

I am old enough to remember when "strike" really meant strike. Anyhoo, the text of the "strike" announcement is presented at the end of this article.

You know folks (HMRC staff), if you really want to scare the shit out of ExComm et al and actually achive something positive you need to ensure that you all complete the next staff survey (due in around 5 months) with absolute honesty (ie don't allow yourselves to be leaned on, or bullied, to present a positive picture).

The Grande Dame is 2 years into her 5 year deadline of turning things around. The fact that she hasn't yet achieved anything positive, and the fact that she has swiftly (in a matter of months - that's fast by HMRC standards) taken away management control of the follow up to the last survey (and placed it with the Directorate) indicates that she is shit scared.

I would also suggest that if there are concerns within staff ranks that those who complete the survey are being bullied into painting a rosy picture, or if there is evidence that results are being manipulated by management to present a positive picture and to pretend that targets are being met, then the survey should be taken out of the hands of HMRC and (as already suggested by one loyal reader) placed in the hands of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC); this body has a remit to investigate HMRC.

BTW, re the "strike", what exactly does refusing to "cut corners" actually mean?

Revenue workers strike over sick scheme

1 June 2011

More than 50,000 tax office workers will be taking strike action next week in protest at a punitive new sickness absence policy.
On Tuesday 7 June there will be a walkout from Revenue and Customs between 4pm and 5pm.

On Wednesday 8 June PCS members will go to work together at 10am and take a mass extended lunch break between 11.30am and 1.30pm.

From 4pm on 7 June union members in the department will also be refusing to work overtime, use private cars for work, or ‘cut corners’.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Relationships

HMRC have published a consultation document "Establishing the future relationship between the tax agent community and HM Revenue & Customs", for which the closing date for comments is 16 September 2011.

For those who are agents, and for those who use agents (sadly HMRC use the "C" word in the document), it is an important document; as the outcome will define (as it says on the tin) "the future relationship between the tax agent community and HMRC".

HMRC (page 6) note that tax agents "play a vital role in the delivery of the tax system which could not function effectively without them"; and HMRC, to their credit, identify that there are problems with the current "relationship":

Page 10:

"HMRC should provide a service for agents… which should aim to be less costly and time consuming than the current service allows; this service should be simple, easy to use and place control in the hands of those using it."

Page 16:

"For others, there is dissatisfaction with the quality of service for some of their basic transactional needs which add to client and HMRC costs: this can lead to non-chargeable time, or more seriously can damage the agent/client relationship."

However, there is one rather large element within the document that may cause some concern within the agent community. HMRC propose a system of agent enrolment with HMRC, thus giving "enrolled" agents access to (for want of a better word) "premium" HMRC services.

Fair enough, maybe, although an argument could be made that "premium" services are what HMRC should be providing now anyway.

However, notwithstanding that "minor" criticism, HMRC (page 10) note "as only HMRC holds data on how tax agents and their clients comply with tax obligations, it is for HMRC to monitor performance of this using risk based principles. Where shortcomings are identified, the first step will always be for HMRC to discuss those with the agent direct to determine whether a problem does exist, and what might be done to remedy it."

Could this be HMRC suggesting (albeit in a round about way) that it wants to "police" tax agents, and possibly act as a regulatory authority that can remove an agent's authority to act as an agent?

HMRC (page 28) try to assuage fears that they are seeking to become a regulatory body:

"HMRC believes that structured self governance of the tax agent market is the correct model for a future relationship."

In this context, in order to see the "bigger picture", I suggest that you read an article I wrote in February 2010 about the legal definition of tax adviser/agent.

However, irrespective of what I say, it is for the agents to judge where this may lead and for them to provide feedback on this consultation.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"