Saturday 30 December 2017

Arise Sir Edward Troup

!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Saturday 23 December 2017

Merry Christmas



Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Monday 18 December 2017

HMRC Unveils Penalty Points System


HMRC recently published details of the penalties system for late submissions and payments under Making Tax Digital, confirming it plans to pursue a points-based model.

Under this model, taxpayers would receive a point every time they fail to submit on time. A penalty will be charged at a certain threshold, which will be dependent on the frequency of their submission obligations. After the threshold has been reached, a penalty will be charged for every subsequent submission failure.

The penalty thresholds put forward are:

- 2 points for annual submissions,
- 4 points for quarterly submissions and
- 5 points for monthly submissions.

One amendment to the model following the consultation is that penalty points will have a shelf-life and would expire after a period of good compliance.

Periods of good compliance were outlined by HMRC as:

- 2 submissions for annual submissions,
- 4 for quarterly, and
- 6 for monthly.

HMRC have said they will make penalty points and actual penalties appealable, and give taxpayers the option to claim a reasonable excuse for failing to meet a filing obligation.

Which may well open up a can of worms, given how many appeals are likely to be lodged as a result of the increase obligations on the hapless taxpayers under MTD>

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Friday 15 December 2017

HMRC's Rickety Computer Systems Crash Again!


My thanks to a loyal reader who posted that HMRC had yet another systems crash yesterday:
"Systems down again yesterday (14th) from early doors throughout the day. Came on intermittently for a few mins at a time then went on the blink again."
It seems that HMRC have managed to keep this away from the mainstream media for the time being.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Well Observed Elaine!


This complicates the UK's already massively over complex tax system!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Thursday 14 December 2017

HMRC Gamekeeper Turned Poacher Convicted


Laura Southern, a former HMRC worker has been convicted of “the very crime” she was paid to detect - after cheating the taxpayer out of £34,000.

BelfastLive reports that Southern lied about living with her partner to claim tax credits.

Southern, from Clonmore Park in Lisburn, Co Antrim worked as a HMRC Benefits and Credits Compliance Manager in Belfast “checking for fraudulent tax credits claims”.

Southern for five years “falsely claimed to be a single parent, while living with her partner”.

Joff(CORR) Parsons, Assistant Director, Internal Governance, HMRC, said she “was employed to track down people committing the very crime she has been convicted of”.

He added:
She knew exactly what she was doing and even though she knew it was wrong, thought she could get away with stealing tax credits she wasn’t entitled to. But her deceit was exposed and now she is paying the price.

We expect the highest professional standards and integrity from our staff; no one is exempt and we will pursue criminals like Southern who think it is acceptable to steal tax credits. We ask anyone with information about tax fraud to contact the HMRC Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”
Southern was given a 15 month prison sentence, suspended for three years, at Craigavon Crown Court on Tuesday, December 12 after pleading guilty to being knowingly concerned in fraudulent activity with a view to obtaining payments of tax credits, contrary to Section 35 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 and to cheating the public revenue.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Wednesday 13 December 2017

HMRC Systems Down?


My thanks to a loyal reader who posted yesterday that HMRC were down:
"Systems down again from 12PM...what a crap I.T system !!!"
I have had a look on Twitter and Google, but cannot find any mention of this. Have others experienced problems in the last 24 hours?

Thanks.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Tuesday 12 December 2017

Distinguishing Tax Avoidance and Evasion: Why and How


Allison Christians in her article "Distinguishing Tax Avoidance and Evasion: Why and How" correctly points out that:
"Much public discourse about tax policy conflates tax avoidance and tax evasion as if they were effectively the same phenomenon."
She notes:
"Tax evasion is wholly objectionable [...]. Tax avoidance describes a range of taxpayer behaviors, not all of which are wholly unobjectionable in the context of an otherwise coherent tax system. Tax avoidance and evasion can and should be distinguished..."
As she concludes:
"The failure to coherently delineate between tax evasion and tax avoidance is not the product of legal impossibility but rather of governance failure."
As I have noted many times on this site, the responsibility for the shambles that is our tax system rests with our "respected" MPs!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Monday 11 December 2017

Hot Off The Presses



Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Judge Ridicules HMRC Automated Penalty


"In my view the requirement in s 100(1) TMA is for a flesh and blood human being who is an officer of HMRC to make the assessment, that is to decide to impose the penalty and give instructions which may be executed by a computer (s 113(1D) TMA).

24. That officer should be named in the notice otherwise the recipient will not know to which officer to address the appeal as required by s 31A(1)(c) TMA."
The judge gives HMRC a well deserved kicking!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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 Staff Forbidden To Tidy Their Desk Drawers


I would just like to follow up on a comment posted by a loyal reader last week about desks:
"Anonymous @ 11:52. 'ANOTHER day of tea,cake and online shopping'. I have no idea where you got the information that staff on phones could ever do any of those things except on their lunch breaks, but it couldn't be more wrong: Even when computers and everything is off, we are not even allowed to give our desk drawers a long over due tidy out. The managers forbid it, whilst running around like headless chickens trying to find some unnecessary training or creep checking of work to occupy our time."
Please can someone explain to me why members of staff are not allowed to tidy their desk drawers?

That makes no sense to me at all!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Friday 8 December 2017

Sigh :(



Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Thursday 7 December 2017

Congratulations East Kilbride?


Hang on though, isn't East Kilbride closing?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Wednesday 6 December 2017

HMRC Phone Lines and Webchat Crash


My thanks to a loyal reader, who posted a link to a report that HMRC's phone lines and its webchat facility crashed yesterday.

HMRC don't seem to know why this happened.

Please let me know if the problems persist.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Tuesday 5 December 2017

Refund of Stamp Duty Erroneously Paid


HMRC has confirmed that first-time buyers who have accidentally paid stamp duty on property purchases completed since the Budget on 22 November will be able to claim refunds.

Anyone who buys their first home for less than £300,000 will not pay any tax, while those who buy property worth up to £500,000 will get partial relief.

HMRC said the stamp duty exemption applied to any purchase completed on or after Budget day. Anyone who may have paid too much stamp duty should go to gov.uk and go to this link.
 
Alternatively address your request to BT  Stamp Duty Land Tax, HM Revenue & Customs BX9 1HD


Tax does have to be taxing.  

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"

Friday 1 December 2017

Jim Harra Appointed HMRC Second Permanent Secretary


Jim Harra, HMRC’s tax assurance commissioner and director general customer for strategy and tax design, is to HMRC’s second permanent secretary.

He will take on the new role which was created in response to Edward Troup’s announcement in September that he would be retiring as chair of HMRC at the end of the year .
Harra’s appointment means that HMRC will continue to have a tax professional as one of its two permanent secretaries.
Frank Haskew, head of the ICAEW Tax Faculty, welcomed the appointment. As per economia:
But we certainly welcome it: he knows his stuff and he is someone you can do business with.
He added:
He had a knack of telling you how it is but it was also clear he cared about your concerns and how HMRC could improve. That’s really important when you are dealing with stakeholders whose members are at the sharp end when things go wrong. HMRC has picked a good ambassador.”
Paul Aplin, ICAEW deputy president and tax partner in A C Mole said:
His experience within HMRC at board and EXCOM level is unrivalled and he is experienced in both the media and political spheres.” 
Harra joined the Inland Revenue as an inspector of taxes in 1984. In January 2009, he was appointed director of corporation tax and VAT with responsibility for optimising their design and delivery. In March 2011, he was promoted to director of personal tax customer operations and seven months later to director personal tax operations.

He became director general business tax in April 2012 and took up his current dual role in October 2016.

He said that he was looking forward to his new appointment.
The work we are doing in the department to create a tax system that makes it easier for taxpayers to get things right, and to prepare for the UK leaving the EU, is vitally important and touches every life in the country.

I am proud to have been given the opportunity to help lead this important work.”
In his new role he will be working in tandem with Jon Thompson, HMRC’s permanent secretary, who has been in post since April 2016.

Thompson said
There are some enormous and important challenges ahead for HMRC: our transformation programme to make us a world class, digital-first tax authority; our focus on supporting the hones majority and clamping down on the dishonest minority; and our work to rise to the challenges of exiting the EU – particularly customs and the border.

Jim knows HMRC and its customers well and will bring his usual dedication, knowledge and professionalism to the role."
Oh, by the way, Harra doesn't believe that IR35 changes have caused contractors to exit the public sector:
“This has not happened. HMRC has been monitoring this. Contractors come and go, and the market is naturally fluid, but it would be wrong to suggest that the public sector has significant recruitment gaps because of this reform.”
Hmmm...

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance 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 Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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"