Landmark Victory Against HMRC

 

Accountancy Age reports a “landmark” court judgement has been delivered against HMRC after its denial of £1m worth of SME R&D tax relief to construction firm Quinn London Limited.

HMRC’s denial of the relief was based on its recently tightened interpretation of subsidised R&D expenditure. It contested that, because Quinn’s R&D projects are typically carried out for clients, any expenditure on that project should be treated as subsidised.

Appealing the judgement, specialist R&D tax relief consultancy ForrestBrown argued that HMRC’s interpretation of the legislation was too broad and will narrow the scope of SME R&D tax relief.

Accepting the appeal in favour of Quinn, Judge Morgan stated in her verdict: “It would be wholly out of kilter with the overall SME scheme if an SME were to be denied relief solely because it seeks to recover some or all of the relevant costs under its commercial contracts with its clients.

“If HMRC’s approach were to be adopted, the circumstances in which an SME could claim enhanced R&D relief would seem to be confined to those where it has no prospect of exploiting the R&D for commercial gain.”

HMRC had adjudged that, despite meeting the criteria of the SME R&D relief scheme, Quinn’s subsidisation of expenditure meant it was only eligible for the far less generous R&D Expenditure Credit (typically claimed by larger organisations).

Over the period in question, the difference in value between the two was calculated to be worth more than £1m.

Which rather proves the old adage, don't let the bastards grind you down!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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Eamonn Holmes To Take HMRC To Court Over £250K Tax Bill

 This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes is planning to take HMRC to court over a £250,000 bill. The legal battle with HMRC over whether he is treated as a freelancer by ITV, is reportedly set to take place next year.

He lost a similar case earlier this year.

HMRC's Failed Case Against Birmingham City

Regarding the failed HMRC case against Birmingham City (as per the BBC):

"A petition to wind up Championship club Birmingham City was dismissed by a High Court judge on Wednesday.

HM Revenue & Customs had put forward the case, saying the Blues owed an unspecified amount in tax, but HMRC's lawyers advised the debt had been paid."

A loyal reader asks:

"Would anyone be able to estimate how much taxpayers money was wasted getting this unnecessarily to court? 

Also, how many more similar instances have there been?"

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.

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HMRC Challenged Over Breach of Human Rights

The Loan Charge Action Group has taken up the cudgels against HMRC, on behalf of contractors who used tax avoidance schemes, and have branded looming fines “grossly unfair” and a breach of human rights in an official legal challenge. 

HMRC has targeted around 50,000 self-employed people with a “loan charge”, set to hit in April, which those liable claim will see them forced into bankruptcy.

The dispute arises from the contractors’ use of complex arrangements, popular and widely accepted to be legal in the early 2000s, in which much of their salary was paid in the form of supposedly tax-free loans.

The Loan Charge Action Group claims workers were unwittingly led into the schemes by unscrupulous promoters or employers, who required them to be paid in this way.


The contractors will also be hit by the loan charge, which rolls all the loans received into a single tax year meaning the bill could be more than the actual tax liability. It also does not clear the original unpaid tax bill.

The LCAG is requesting a judicial review of the charge saying it is a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights and that the Government did not carry out proper impact assessments.

HMRC has admitted that a small number of people may face bankruptcy.

Robert Venables QC, acting on behalf of the group, said the loan charge was “disproportionate”.

He is quoted by the Telegraph:

"The loan charges are being applied in cases where there was no tax avoidance in the first place and taxpayers are being taxed on non-existent benefits and non-existent income.

This is to all intents and purposes retrospective legislation. It is grossly unfair, arbitrary, oppressive and unjust.”

Richard Horsley, of the LCAG, said:

“Hardworking law-abiding people and their families face losing everything due to this unfair retrospective draconian tax grab.

The Loan Charge Action Group represent and have been dealing with many desperate self-employed and formerly self-employed people who never broke the law and never sought to conceal their tax arrangements.”

An HMRC spokesman said it had no comment on the legal action but that HMRC “wants to do all we can to make it simple for people to get out of these schemes and we’re here to help those who want to”.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC's Lamentable Negligence Costs Taxpayers £2M

A four year investigation (and subsequent court case) by HMRC into alleged £500K red diesel fraud has gone down the toilet thanks to HMRC's systemic failures.

For good measure, a linked trial also had to be abandoned due to errors on the part of investigating officers from HMRC.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said the fraud case showed "lamentable negligence" and was indicative of a more widespread problem.

In December 2013, officers from customs and excise (HMRC) raided tanker driver Peter Norton's home. He was charged with others with conspiracy to evade VAT by selling nearly £500,000 of laundered so-called red diesel fuel.

Red diesel is only legal for off-road vehicles such as tractors, and has a much lower VAT rate.

A VAT fraud involving the fuel works by removing the red dye to make it look like regular diesel before the fuel is then sold on fraudulently at the higher VAT rate.
Peter Norton has always denied any wrongdoing.

After a four-year investigation by HMRC, the case went to trial in January at Liverpool Crown Court.

However, one month into the trial, a vast amount of information that should have been disclosed to the defence was identified on the laptop of the HMRC investigating officer, Daniel Grundy.

The prosecution asked for an adjournment to sift through the material that should have been disclosed.

Judge Trevor-Jones refused and the trial collapsed.

In his ruling, he said:

"I accept that the failure here can properly be described as negligent, but it was negligence to a lamentable degree.

It is indicative of a more systemic failure going beyond the omissions of just one officer."

The competence, even credibility, of the investigative team has clearly been tainted."

The same disclosure failings meant that a linked trial of petrol station owners, due to begin a few weeks later, was also abandoned.

Lawyers in the case estimate the two trials cost in excess of £2m of public money.

An HMRC spokesperson said they "fully accept" the failings, but would be working closely with the CPS to "see what lessons can be learned."


Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC Adviser Jailed For Fraud

The BBC reports that an HMRC adviser, who did not pay income tax for 13 years has been jailed, with a judge saying sparing him from custody would cause "outrage".

Amjad Khan failed to pay almost £16,000 between 2002 and 2015 while working for the HMRC in Bradford.

He also pocketed nearly £24,000 in tax credits to which he was not entitled as part of the "appalling and blatant" fraud.

Khan admitted the fraud offences at Bradford Crown Court last year.

At the same time as he was working for the HMRC in Bradford city centre, the married father-of-three was also earning money through a property rental business and his work as a self-employed gas and heating engineer.

Prosecutor Howard Shaw said Khan of Burnett Avenue, Bradford, had claimed in a tax return for the year 2014/15 that both his businesses were loss-making even though analysis of his bank accounts showed they were profitable.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said all the time Khan had been working for HMRC advising people about their "rights and wrongs" he had been committing fraud against the state.
"You were evading income tax over a 13-year period," said the judge, who described the frauds as "appalling and blatant".

The judge said a 20-month prison sentence would have to be served and the public would be outraged if the court did not deal with Khan in a robust way.

Khan is expected face a further hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act later in the year in bid to get back the money he obtained through fraud.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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

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HMRC Overruled On Blocked Pension Relief

HMRC has been told to allow pension tax relief at source on non-cash contributions, granting a provisional reprieve on what could amount to millions of pounds in tax.

These 'in-specie' contributions are where property, shares or other assets are used to contribute to a pension, instead of cash. Following these in-specie contributions, Sipp firms can claim tax relief back from HMRC, the same as for normal cash contributions.

Two years ago HMRC challenged certain contribution agreements. In August 2016 Citywire's New Model Adviser® revealed that a number of Sipp providers had suspended in specie contributions over fears HMRC was changing its tax relief position.


HMRC then wrote to Sipp providers asking them to pay back tax relief on in-specie contributions, with the assessment backdated to the 2012/13 tax year.

Citywire reports that in a ruling on 10 March, Judge Heather Gething ruled against HMRC’s decision, allowing the appeal by the Sipp providers. She said the meaning of the term ‘contribution paid’ was ‘wide enough to cover a transfer of assets in satisfaction of a debt as occurred in this case’.


Tax does have to be taxing.

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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



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Tribunal Quashes HMRC Fine

My thanks to a loyal reader for passing on this recent tribunal case, in which HMRC's £300 fine is quashed and HMRC come out of it looking like idiots.

FERGUS ANSTOCK Appellant 

- and - 

THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE & CUSTOMS Respondents

"The Notice relied upon by the respondents is so poorly thought through and so inadequately drafted that it fails the requirement of certainty and precision, which is a fundamental requirement ( as explained above ) .

In this context it is also worth pointing out that the requirements made of the recipient of a Notice must be discernible from within the four corners of the Notice itself unless some other document is specifically incorporated by reference.

It will not do for it to be argued, as it was argued before us, that some of the details about requested information might have been gleaned by looking at the earlier correspondence. That might be so; it might not be so. However, that is not a legitimate way to proceed because the Notice must be self - contained and must be construed to establish precisely what information and/or documents it properly requires the recipient to provide.

A taxpayer cannot be in breach of a Notice unless it is a valid notice. By “valid” we mean one which meets the requirements of certainty and precision, which we have discussed above.

For the two separate reasons that we have set out above , this appeal is allowed and the £300 penalty quashed."

'Nuff said!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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



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HMRC's View of Due Process

#APN s, in #HMRC s own words (circa 2014). Due process? Those plebs don't need that! pic.twitter.com/fu2W2e70GB

— DotasScandalDotOrg (@dotasscandal) November 30, 2016

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"

Hartnett Broke The Prime Directive

As loyal readers are aware Hartnett has hit the headlines again, the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that HMRC unlawfully disclosed confidential information to journalists about financial advisors Ingenious Media, known for promoting film investment schemes.

Hartnett gave journalists from The Times an "off the record" briefing in 2012.

Economia reports that during the course of the briefing, agreed to be “off the record”, the journalists instigated a conversation with Hartnett about Ingenious, its CEO Patrick McKenna about a film investment scheme. Some of the information was used in a later Times story.

A 2013 High Court judgment struck out Ingenious' breach of confidentiality claim against HMRC on the basis that the briefing was off the record. Ingenious also lost an appeal in 2015.

The highest court in the land, however, ruled that HMRC had breached its duty of confidentiality.

Lord Toulson, the Supreme Court justice, said in his ruling, “The information supplied by Mr Hartnett to the journalists about Mr McKenna and Ingenious Media was confidential in nature, in respect of which HMRC owed a duty of confidentiality.”

“The fact that Mr Hartnett did not anticipate his comments being reported is not a justification for making them. The desire to foster good relations with the media and to publicise HMRC’s view about tax avoidance schemes and speculation that the journalists may have subsequently informed Mr Hartnett about other tax avoidance schemes do not provide sufficient justification for the disclosures either.”

Ingenious has been awarded costs and is now considering whether to seek compensation.

As some of you have also observed, this breach of taxpayer confidentiality strikes at the very core of HMRC's "prime directive" of confidentiality.

As per Lord Toulson:

“The whole idea of HMRC officials supplying confidential information about individuals to the media on a non-attributable basis is, or should be, a matter of serious concern.”

Will Hartnett and those others responsible be prosecuted for 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"

HMRC's Age of Mistrust

Recently published data published shows that the number of premises raided by HMRC has risen by 53% in the last five years, and by 28% year-on-year.

Rufus Ballaster, Partner at City of London law firm, Carter Lemon Camerons LLP, has said that the news epitomises “the age of mistrust”.

He is quoted by Business Matters:

“Just a decade ago, HMRC’s statistics of criminal cases brought for non-payment were in the handfuls per year – and now they run in the region of a thousand annually. What is more, the tax authorities have powers of investigation and confiscation which are far more draconian than individuals do in civil disputes.

The ‘authorities’ operate on a basis of mistrust – they are hunting down the cheats and there is a perceived need to punish bad behaviour severely, so as to ‘encourage the others’ to pay up

Taxpayers should, and the vast majority of us do, file returns self-assessing the tax we ought to pay and making our payments accordingly. It is acknowledged that the proper functioning of the state requires taxes to be paid, and that proper behaviour of citizens requires frank disclosure and prompt payment in accordance with the law.

Today, tax is almost entirely ‘self-assessment’ based.

Increasingly, however, we live in a country of mistrust and set piece battles with allegations by HMRC of tax avoidance ‘losing billions to the public purse’ on the one hand, and protests from people and corporations that they pay ‘what is properly due’ on the other – so what is the truth here?

If certain tax payments are properly due and the taxpayer has mis-disclosed facts, or failed to file honest returns, HMRC is behaving in the public interest and we should defend its actions.

If, however, there is any doubt whatsoever about the position, it is the tax payer – and not the state – who should be heard fully and fairly before being pilloried for ‘tax evasion’”.

I would also add, that HMRC tends to target low hanging fruit (ie those people/companies that don't have an army of professional tax advisers and lawyers to argue their case) which in itself adds to the atmosphere of mistrust endured by taxpayers.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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's £43BN Contingent Liabilities

HMRC's latest accounts contain a £42.8BN contingent liability, being its worst case estimate of the cost of defeat in its ongoing court cases relating to companies which believe that they have paid too much tax decades ago.

HMRC has been fighting multibillion-pound legal battles with dozens of companies such as Littlewoods, BAT and Prudential in highly complex court hearings in London and Luxembourg.

Chris Morgan, head of tax policy at KPMG, is quoted by the FT as noting that some of the key legal cases were coming to a head:

“There could be tens of billions paid out by 2017-18.”

Many of the cases concern breaches of EU law, and do not involve tax avoidance.

Bill Dodwell of Deloitte said:

“The biggest elements of this have been a long time coming. The revenue has put up the strongest possible fight.”

Therein lies the key element of the contingency, not so much the tax that would have to be repaid but the legal fees incurred by HMRC over the years in putting up a fight.

HMRC are sanguine about it, noting that it wins more than 80% of cases that go to tribunal.

“We are required for accounting purposes to include an estimated contingent liability figure of potential repayments of tax. There is no question of this amount or anything close to this amount ever being repaid as the figure is based on our losing every single case currently being litigated, which is not going to happen.” 

HMRC are most likely correct in what they say. However, what is worthy of note is that the liabilities have more than doubled over the past two years.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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

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What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

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To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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What a Whopper! - Bernnie Ecclestone's £1BN Tax Bill

The FT reports that Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief executive, is fighting a tax bill of more than £1bn, after Revenue & Customs reopened a long-running dispute over a family trust.

The judge ruled that a judicial review to decide whether HMRC had breached its guidance should only be considered after the commercial court decides whether HMRC’s withdrawal from its 2008 agreement was legal.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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



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Advice To Beaker

Danny Alexander calls for corporate tax evasion crackdown http://t.co/yHuwV5ewsl /5 years at Treasury, never heard of Money Laundering Regs?
— Jon Stow (@JonStow) February 22, 2015

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"

Don't Bypass The Courts

CIoT president Anne Fairpo has warned HMRC not to bypass the courts when enforcing tax debts.

She is quoted by AccountancyAge speaking at the CIoT's presidential reception:

"I am concerned about the increasing focus on HMRC enforcement without third party supervision. There is, and can be, no dispute that HMRC needs to enforce tax debts. There's no dispute that we have a societal infrastructure that needs to be paid for.

In a perfect world, perhaps HMRC wouldn't need the courts - but then again, in a perfect world, no-one would need the courts. This is not a perfect world. People make mistakes. HMRC makes mistakes."

Wise words indeed!

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"

Tax Loopholes

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has criticised Britain's 1,128 tax reliefs.

For why?

In PAC's view they are a £100BN recipe for abuse, avoidance and evasion.

PAC notes that government departments are struggling to cope with the growing demands of managing the ballooning number of them.

One relief, highlighted by Margaret Hodge, is late-night taxi relief which exempts employees who are supplied with them from facing income tax charges for "benefits in kind".

Ms Hodge said that rather than helping shift workers it had ended up benefiting the often expansively paid employees of big law and accountancy firms. This, she said (according to The Independent), made it "hard to justify".

Ms Hodge said:

"Much more radical simplification of the tax system is required if we are to get to grips with aggressive tax avoidance.

If the Government chooses to spend £100bn on tax reliefs, at a time of austerity, this expenditure should be considered in the same way as spending programmes. Many tax reliefs are introduced without clear objectives and are not evaluated as fully."

I agree that the tax system needs to be simplified, I am sure that taxpayers (both staff of HMRC and those not employed by HMRC) would agree on that point.

However, the legislation is passed by our "respected" MPs who are now criticising the system that they created.

Maybe PAC and others who criticise the system would care to remember that it is they who created it in the first place!

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"

Beware Retrospective Tax Legislation

As per The Law Society Gazette:

"A ‘disturbing pattern’ is emerging where legislation is introduced with ‘minimal or ineffective’ consultation.

Concerns are raised that tax policymakers are ‘insufficiently conscious’ of the importance of the rule of law and over-reliant on guidance. The current government, it adds, has legislated retrospectively against certain types of stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes even though they had been known to HMRC for some time.

‘We do not consider that this is acceptable. Businesses must know that the law in place when transactions take place will be the law that applies to them’.

‘This principle is either absolute or it is nothing – once it has been broken once, further breaches are only questions of degree,‘ the committee says.“

The government is ignoring the rule of law, you have been warned!

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 vs Littlewoods

HMRC has lost a High Court case against retailer Littlewoods, and will have to pay Littlewoods £1.2BN in compound interest on VAT overpayments made by Littlewoods between 1973 and 2004.

Lawyer Giles Salmonds said the ruling by Mr Justice Henderson could have significant implications, because it takes into account the interest's increased (or compounded) value over the years. He is quoted by ITV:

"Littlewoods claimed that based on principles of EU law they were entitled to the compounded use value of money they had paid to HMRC as VAT.

Today's judgment means that HMRC will be liable to pay billions in interest to other taxpayers who have already claimed overpaid VAT going back to the early 70s, but have only been paid simple interest based on a reduced average of bank base rates."

However, before those owed money rush off to make a claim, it is highly likely that HMRC will appeal the verdict. As per Mr Salmonds:

"This is an important victory for taxpayers, but it is very likely that HMRC will seek permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal."

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"

Lloyds £1BN Whopper!

I see that Lloyds Banking Group (32.7% owned by the taxpayer) faces a £1BN tax demand from HMRC. The bill relates to billions of pounds of loss taken in Ireland by Lloyds as it wound down its defunct Irish subsidiary.

Lloyds was warned in the second half of last year that HMRC were not happy with its treatment of Irish losses to offset its tax bill, prompting a legal dispute between Lloyds and HMRC.

If the case is decided in HMRC’s favour, Lloyds claims that its tax bill will increase by £1BN. It is quoted by the Telegraph:

“The group does not agree with HMRC’s position and, having taken appropriate advice, does not consider that this is a case where additional tax will ultimately fall due.”

I dare say the lawyers will do well out of this dispute!

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"

Inglese Retires

My thanks to a loyal reader who pointed me to an article in The Lawyer that notes that HMRC have appointed a new general counsel to replace the retiring Anthony Inglese. Gill Aitken from the Department of Work & Pensions’ (DWP) where she is director general of legal services, will take up the role at the end of January 2014.

As an aside, in 2010 she topped the DWP bonus league by earning a £10K bonus on top of her £125K salary.

Loyal readers with long memories will recall that in November 2011 the Commons Public Accounts Committee took the unusual step of making Anthony Inglese CB, General Counsel and Solicitor HMRC, swear an oath at a PAC hearing into HMRC Accounts and Tax Disputes.

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"