Je Recuse - Jacky Wright's "Civic Leave"

Last week, when writing about Jacky Wright becoming the new CDIO of HMRC, I said:

"At least now, maybe, HMRC will upgrade from Windows 7!"

Sadly for HMRC staff struggling with outdated operating systems this will not be the case, for Ms Wright hasn't actually left Microsoft; she is on "civic leave". 

Thanks for all well wishes and Microsoft for allowing employees to take a Civic Leave. Look forward to joining HMRC! https://t.co/oKvCwFd0sa

— Jacky Wright (@WrightJacky) September 18, 2017

During this two year leave of absence she has recused herself from any Microsoft related issues, as per HMRC quoted by The Register:

"Jacky will be appointed to HMRC on a fixed two-year contract.

She must recuse herself from any discussion and decisions relating to Microsoft, both within HMRC and across Government and we will put in place the necessary governance to manage."

Okey dokey, so in summary HMRC have hired a two year manager for a five or more year job who can't actually touch anything Microsoft related, even though HMRC has around 85,000 desktops running Microsoft.

Oh yes, that will work fine and dandy!

Oh, and by happenstance, Hotmail suffered a European wide outage yesterday for several hours. Maybe the net gods were sending us a warning about this?

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"

MTD Is Bollocks - Elaine Clark Nails It!

My chum Elaine Clark nails the bollocks that is MTD:

"Making Tax Digital is an HMRC initiative requiring all businesses and landlords, with a turnover in excess of £10k, to report figures to HMRC on a quarterly basis.

HMRC estimate that they will spend £980 million implementing Making Tax Digital.

The problem is that HMRC WILL NOT use those figures!

So to restate that …

Making Tax Digital is an HMRC initiative costing  £980 million and imposing a reporting burden on all businesses and landlords to provide figures which will not be looked at by HMRC....

The waste of money on Making Tax Digital is an inconvenient truth

Hopefully this vanity project will be shelved before it’s too late."

In conclusion, MTD is:

BOLLOCKS!

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"

The LGA Talks Bollocks

Last week the Local Government Association (LGA), for reasons best known to itself, decided to blow its own trumpet and have a go at HMRC's tax collection record.

The LGA said that uncollected tax was costing the equivalent of £1,370 for every household in England and Wales.

Cllr Sharon Taylor, chairwoman of the LGA's finance panel and Labour leader of Stevenage Borough Council in Hertfordshire, is quoted in the Huffington Post:

"If central government's collection rates were as good as those of councils, the public purse would be more than £20 billion better off.

That's almost double the size of the total spending cuts announced in the Chancellor's spending round. When the taxman's balance sheet falls short, it takes a toll on public services across the board.

Local government is the most efficient part of the public sector. Council tax has one of the highest collection rates of any tax. We cannot afford for local services like road maintenance, libraries and social care to continue paying the price of those who evade and avoid their tax liability. We all need government to do better in tackling this.

Local authorities collect council tax from more than 22 million homes. If councils can obtain more than 97% of this, it is reasonable that Whitehall should be able to match this.

Government has made positive noises on tackling unpaid tax. We now want to see a clear timetable which sets out how government will significantly improve their tax collection record."

Pass the sick bag someone!

Aside from the bizarre delusion that local government is the "most efficient part of the public sector", the comparison of council tax with tax collected by HMRC is absurd.

1 Council tax is straightforward to calculate, administer and collect.

2 Council's know where you live.

3 Tax collected by HMRC covers a veritable smorgasbord of income streams/types (eg salary, bonuses, capital gains, IHT etc etc); ie it is not always straightforward, easy to administer or calculate.

The LGA is talking complete and utter bollocks!

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"