Osita Mba (Ex HMRC) Summaries The AML Tax Ltd Case

AML Tax (UK) Limited, directed by Arthur Lancaster and part of Doug Barrowman’s Isle of Man based Knox Group, fined £150,000 after HMRC brought an Upper Tribunal case over its failure to comply with formal information notices as part of a tax investigation https://t.co/zLnhpr2hN1

— Osita Mba (@DrOsitaMba) March 18, 2022

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC's Grim RIPA

PAC has criticised HMRC's use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa) to examine the belongings, emails, internet search records and phone calls of their own solicitor, Osita Mba, and the phone records of his then wife.

The justification of the use of these powers by HMRC was that it wanted to find out if Mba had spoken to the Guardian’s former investigations editor, David Leigh.

A report by MPs on the Commons public accounts committee praised Mba for exposing the “sweetheart” deal and called for further scrutiny of HM Revenue’s use of Ripa powers.

As per the Guardian:

“We consider that HMRC’s use of powers, reserved for tackling serious criminals, against Mr Osita Mba was indefensible ... HMRC should tell us when it makes use of the powers granted to it under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act against whistleblowers from within HMRC.”

When HMRC turns on its own people, it seems to display a rather nasty streak! 

Tax does have to be taxing.

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Whistleblowing - Osita Mba Attends PAC

Osita Mba (ex HMRC Solicitor) attended yesterday's PAC hearing on Whistleblwoing.

Witnesses

1. Kay Sheldon, Care Quality Commission, Cathy James, Chief Executive, Public Concern at Work, and Osita Mba, former HMRC employee
2. Lin Homer, Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary, HM Revenue and Customs, Jonathan Slater, Director General Transformation and Corporate Strategy, Ministry of Defence, Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education, and Charlie Massey, Director General, Strategy and External Relations, Department of Health

Lin Homer had told the public accounts committee that phone records had been obtained using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to unearth information about Osita Mba.

Margaret Hodge said that HMRC's use of the anti terrorism powers, ostensibly to track down whether Mba had been talking to the Guardian's then investigations editor, David Leigh, had "shocked her to her bones".

Hodge told Homer she was particularly surprised "that you made a request under Ripa, which is there to deal with terrorism". She asked for assurances that HMRC would "never again use these powers on a whistleblower".

Homer of course wouldn't give such an assurance, as per the Guardian:

"You know that we cannot offer carte blanche assurances for evermore that we won't use these … I have other duties of care to parliament and other individuals."

Power corrupts, the more power given the HMRC the more liukely it is that it will be corrupted.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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Ask Gauke

By happenstance, having been in the news recently wrt Osita Mba, David Gauke will host a Q&A session on 13 May on ICAS Forums (ICAS being the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland).

As per ICAS:

"Treasury Minister David Gauke MP will host a Q&A on the ICAS Forums on Monday 13 May, 9-9.30am, enabling all CAs and students to put their questions to the Government’s go-to man on tax avoidance.

Mr Gauke has been leading the government's effort on tax evasion and avoidance, as these topics come under the spotlight like never before.

This is a fantastic opportunity to ask a key player in the debate about tax avoidance his thoughts on the topic.

Please feel free to post questions in this thread ahead of the event, by pressing the reply button in the top right of your screen. They will be answered on 13 May when Mr Gauke logs into the forum. We’ll also be collecting questions from our social media channels (use #askGauke or tweet us @ICASaccounting) and via email (digital@icas.org.uk) and sharing these in the forum as well."

Why not send in some questions?

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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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"

Gauke's Smoking Gun

My thanks to a loyal reader who pointed me to another update on the Osita Mba debacle.

The Guardian reports that based on emails that it has seen, David Gauke seemingly approved a plan to brief a journalist with information to help discredit testimony from HMRC whistleblower Osita Mba.

The leaked emails were sent on 15 December 2011 by a senior figure in HMRC's media department to Gauke's private secretary, Oliver Haydon. The emails claimed that the imminent public accounts committee report would be highly critical of Hartnett, HMRC and the Goldman Sachs deal.

In one email, the HMRC executive wrote to Gauke's secretary saying there was a need for Mba's evidence to be challenged:

"The belief that Mr Mba has genuine and deep knowledge of the Voda [Vodafone] and GS [Goldman Sachs] settlements is growing when in fact the picture he presents is partial, incomplete and flawed.

Much of the PAC [public accounts committee] report on large business settlements is likely to be based on his submissions and we feel this must be challenged if HMRC's reputation is not to suffer very serious damage.

We propose to do this by having Dave Hartnett brief [a named Financial Times journalist] – on the record – with a view to a Saturday/Monday story. We would welcome your views."

Haydon responded:

"Thx — I've relayed to XST [Gauke] whose initial reaction was positive. I'll confirm when I speak to him in the next hour or so."

Sadly there is nothing new in politicians using (directly or indirectly) the media to undermine the reputation of individuals and to manipulate the opinions of those involved in reviews/investigations. It is though particularly troubling when parts of the civil service encourage the politicians to adopt such a strategy.


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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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"

Saving Face

As loyal readers know, politicians will do anything to save face. In fact so desperate are they to burnish their self perceived reputations and egos, that they pressurise their civil servants and departments to do all they can to protect their political masters.

Such is the case, as pointed out by a loyal reader, with HMRC and Dave Hartnett.

Documents released in court yesterday show that Hartnett and HMRC cut a deal with the giant vampire squid, Goldman Sachs, partly to avoid the embarrassment of the bank pulling out of a new tax framework.

Reuters reports that, based on an email sent by Hartnett dated 7 December 2010, Hartnett approved the deal to avoid embarrassment to himself and to George Osborne:

"The risks here are major embarrassment to the (finance minister), HMRC ... you and me, not least if (Goldman Sachs) withdraw from the Code."

Politics is an ugly business, that erodes the fabric of decency and honesty on which society should be based.

My thanks to a loyal reader who has provided a link to the Hartnett email and to Hartnett's witness statement.


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



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"

Power Corrupts - HMRC Uses RIPA On Osita Mba

In March I asked the following question:

"Where is whistleblower Osita Mba?"

By happenstance, on the 29th of April, The Guardian provided a rather detailed and interesting update as to what HMRC have been doing to Mr Mba.

It transpires that HMRC used their powers, normally reserved for catching serious criminals (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 - Ripa brought in by parliament on the pretext of catching terrorists), to search the belongings, emails, internet records and phone calls of Mr Mba and his wife.

For why?

HMRC wanted to prove that Mr Mba had spoken to the Guardian's former investigations editor David Leigh.

Seemingly HMRC could find no proof of any contact.

Cathy James, the head of the whistleblowers' charity, Public Concern at Work, regards this as "sinister" and is quoted:

"The actions of the HMRC in this case are very much a step in the wrong direction, more likely to result in a culture of silence with more anonymous leaking than anything else. It is a case of shoot – and silence – the messengers."

David Leigh, who retired from the Guardian last month, said:

"The revenue's decision to use these powers to try and find a link with a journalist when the disclosure was so obviously in the public interest was heavy-handed and foolish, and shows the level of paranoia over their tax deals."

Mr Mba's employment tribunal claim continues and is expected to be heard in the autumn.

As I have noted before, the more powers that are granted to organisations such as HMRC the more they will abuse and misuse them.

I reproduce the full text of the Guardian's article below, comments and views are as ever always welcome.

"Tax officials used intrusive investigative powers meant to catch serious criminals to try to prove that a whistleblower who uncovered a "sweetheart" deal with Goldman Sachs had spoken to the Guardian, it has emerged.

The belongings, emails, internet search records and phone calls of the HM Revenue and Customs solicitor Osita Mba and the phone records of his wife, Claudia, were examined by investigators, according to previously undisclosed documents.

The powers, which are supposed to be used to combat large-scale criminal tax frauds, were used because the tax inspectors suspected that Mba had been in contact with the Guardian's former investigations editor, David Leigh.

Leigh's telephone numbers and email addresses were cross-referenced with Mba's, but investigators found no evidence of contact, documents show.

The disclosure has prompted serious questions about HMRC's behaviour.

Cathy James, the head of the whistleblowers' charity, Public Concern at Work, said the decision to use intrusive powers to examine an employee who made claims using whistleblowing legislation was "outrageous" and "sinister".

"The actions of the HMRC in this case are very much a step in the wrong direction, more likely to result in a culture of silence with more anonymous leaking than anything else. It is a case of shoot – and silence – the messengers," she said.

Using the Public Interest Disclosure Act, Mba wrote to the National Audit Office (NAO) and two parliamentary committees in confidence in 2011 saying that the head of tax, Dave Hartnett, had "let off" Goldman Sachs from paying at least £10m in interest.

Emails show Mba's identity was disclosed to the revenue in October 2011 by the former clerk of the public accounts committee, who had sought clarification that Mba was their employee. The next day, a member of the HMRC's security staff sought to obtain access to Mba's office cabinet beneath his desk in Whitehall. "Thanks. Did you manage to get cabinet key number?" he asked a colleague.

The man also received an email containing the solicitor's private email address, his mobile number, his home telephone number and his wife's telephone details.

On 11 October 2011, the Guardian published a story under the headline "Goldman Sachs let off paying £10m interest on failed tax avoidance scheme", written by Leigh. Publication prompted members of the revenue's criminal investigative unit to take action. One named internal criminal investigator sent an email on 19 October to a colleague saying that the revenue had begun "a review of the suspect's [Mba's] H drive [the hard drive used within HMRC] and email traffic and internet usage", but inquiries had revealed nothing.

He then proposed a "further interrogation of computer material" and an "itemised billing check", and wrote that "consultations with the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] can proceed".

Using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa), HMRC can see websites viewed by taxpayers, where a mobile phone call was made or received, and the date and time of emails, texts and phone calls. According to the revenue website, these powers "can only be used when investigating serious crime". But the papers disclose that applications were granted to investigate Mba using Ripa.

On 21 October 2011, tax officials applied for an itemised billing request to check a mobile of Mba's, documents show.

One document read: "David Leigh, who was given HMRC material discussing a named taxpayers tax affairs advised a senior employee of HMRC that he had been given access to that material on the 4th or 5th October 2011 and in it he quoted extracts from an HMRC minute of 8/12/2010. He was clearly given information which if provided by an HMRC employee was in contravention of CRCA [Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005]."

Ten days later, another investigator sent a document, entitled leakupdate4, to colleagues showing they had failed to identify any illegal activity through IT checks, emails, intranet and internet usage and checks from Mba's office telephone.

Investigators also circulated Leigh's office and mobile number among staff so that they could be cross-referenced with Mba's numbers.

A memo sent in December 2011 said the revenue had checked Leigh's details but found no evidence of contact with Mba.

Leigh, who retired from the Guardian last month, said: "The revenue's decision to use these powers to try and find a link with a journalist when the disclosure was so obviously in the public interest was heavy-handed and foolish, and shows the level of paranoia over their tax deals."

Mba was suspended from work, as the Guardian revealed on 8 December 2011, when public accounts committee members warned revenue officials not to harass or bully him. However, the organisation continued to receive and detail his phone records, documents show. The inquiry was abandoned on 11 January 2012.

Mba, who trained as a barrister in Nigeria and completed his master's degree at Oxford, worked in the personal tax litigation team that dealt with the Goldman Sachs tax issue. He told the NAO and two parliamentary committees that the bank's settlement had been agreed with a handshake by Hartnett, the permanent secretary for tax at HMRC.

Mba believed the deal could be illegal, and told auditors he was making the disclosure under whistleblowing legislation. His evidence led to Hartnett's being accused of lying to parliament over his role in the Goldman Sachs deal, which he denied. He admitted, however, that his organisation had made a mistake by approving the deal.

In June 2012, Mba filed a claim under the Public Interest Disclosure Act in the central London employment tribunal. In November 2012, HMRC ordered Mba to return to work in a different team.
In 2011, HMRC was authorised under Ripa to view 14,381 items of "communications data" on taxpayers while investigating tax evasion, compared with 11,513 items in 2010, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The employment tribunal claim continues and is expected to be heard in the autumn. HMRC declined to comment when contacted on Monday."

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



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"

Where's Osita?

Where is whistleblower Osita Mba?

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



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"

Auditor Independence - Perceptions Matter

As an ex auditor (both external and internal) and having had some considerable experience of fraud investigations and compliance work, I can state that it is a fundamental requirement in order for an auditor to be able to do his/her job in a professional and credible manner (and for the audit report to have credibility) that he/she and the department that they work for are not only independent but perceived to be independent.

When that independence is undermined by, eg, an unhealthy close relationship with the auditee, or by unhelpful dissemination of information about ongoing audits to third parties, then the auditor can no longer perform his/her function.

My thanks to a loyal reader who pointed me to a recent article in the Guardian that shows that the National Audit Office (NAO) has had its independence severely compromised by the alleged actions of its own boss Amyas Morse.

The Guardian reports that Morse, who set up a judge-led review into the "sweetheart" multimillion-pound tax deals between HMRC and corporations, undermined the whole process by telling Dave Hartnett (when he was still head of HMRC) that the inquiry would find "nothing of substance".

For good measure Morse told his staff that the review by Sir Andrew Park would find no evidence of serious wrongdoing.

In an email marked "private and confidential – please do not pass on to anyone without coming back to me", sent by Hartnett on 15 December 2011 to 10 senior HMRC officials Hartnett wrote that he had held a meeting that afternoon with Morse which was "useful and interesting". 

Hartnett went on: 

"Amyas has been insistent that Andrew Park tackles the cases one at a time. He [Morse] has told me that he has made clear to the NAO that his expectation is that nothing of substance will be found in the review."

Morse apologised for the way that Hartnett's officials had been treated by PAC:

"He [Morse] did not envisage things playing out the way that they have and was sorry for the individuals in HMRC who had been bruised by the actions of the PAC and for the difficulties the department had experienced." 

It is clear from the text that the relationship between NAO and HMRC has become far too cosy; as such the perceived independence of NAO has been severely compromised, which means that NAO can no longer perform its role effectively.

QED!

By the way, does anyone know what has happened to the whistleblower Osita Mba?

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?

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



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"

Information Commissioner Investigates HMRC

The information commissioner has launched an inquiry into the way that HMRC's criminal investigations unit obtained and used personal information belonging to the family of Osita Mba, a revenue solicitor, and his wife, Claudia.

Documents sent to the information commissioner's office show that in October last year one of Mr Mba's managers forwarded his and his wife's address and four contact telephone numbers to an officer in HMRC's criminal investigations unit.

In December 2011 I wrote:

"Osita Mba, a solicitor with HMRC who turned whistleblower on HMRC's deal with the giant vampire squid (Goldman Sachs), is facing disciplinary proceedings (possibly dismissal and prosecution) for telling the National Audit Office (NAO) and two parliamentary committees about his concerns over the deal.

Mr Mba has worked for HMRC for four years, and apparently has knowledge of the vampire squid deal.

 

Mr Mba made the disclosure to the NAO and parliament under whistleblowing legislation which, theoretically, is meant to protect whistleblowers from prosecution etc.

It seems that HMRC think otherwise, and have launched an inquiry into Mr Mba's conduct. He has been barred from entering his office at Westminster unless he has a personal escort from his line manager, and has been summoned to a meeting."

HMRC's criminal investigations unit can examine tax and telephone records as part of its inquiries. It can also apply to intercept post, emails and telephone calls.

The Guardian reports that the information commissioner's office has given HMRC 28 days to explain how its criminal investigations unit obtained the numbers and why it is not in breach of the Data Protection Act.

It will be interesting to read their explanation.

I have warned many times on this site before about the dangers of giving more power to HMRC, this issue highlights why my warning should be heeded.

I am not alone in being concerned, the disclosure has caused concern among MPs on the Commons public accounts committee who say an ongoing criminal inquiry into Mba and his wife is heavy-handed and wrong.

Why are HMRC out to get Mr Mba?

It seems that HMRC blames Mr Mba for the demise of Dave "Jack" Hartnett.

Stephen Barclay, a committee member, said:

"This is a concerning development. We have taken a very close interest in a whistleblower who we regard as having provided information of public interest to parliament. Clearly we will need to see the details but there is a sense of mistakes being compounded with further mistakes."

HMRC have for the moment declined to comment.

However, they cannot remain silent forever and have to answer the information commissioner's questions.

Stephen Barclay advises me that there are two PAC sessions on HMRC on 26/27th of this month. It will be interesting to see what is unearthed.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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"

Fare Thee Well Jack!

Despite "retiring" from HMRC, Dave "Jack" Hartnett can't quite shake off those annoying questions about his deal with Goldman Sachs (the giant vampire squid).

Jack claimed that the cost of the waived interest was less than £10M. However, Mr Osita Mba (the HMRC lawyer whistleblower) has told the parliamentary committee investigating the issue that it was "£20M in rough figures".

The Dangers of Dissent - HMRC Harassment

The Guardian reports that Osita Mba, a solicitor with HMRC who turned whistleblower on HMRC's deal with the giant vampire squid (Goldman Sachs), is facing disciplinary proceedings (possibly dismissal and prosecution) for telling the National Audit Office (NAO) and two parliamentary committees about his concerns over the deal.

Mr Mba has worked for HMRC for four years, and apparently has knowledge of the vampire squid deal.

 

Mr Mba made the disclosure to the NAO and parliament under whistleblowing legislation which, theoretically, is meant to protect whistleblowers from prosecution etc.

It seems that HMRC think otherwise, and have launched an inquiry into Mr Mba's conduct. He has been barred from entering his office at Westminster unless he has a personal escort from his line manager, and has been summoned to a meeting.

MPs are less than impressed with HMRC's treatment of Mr Mba. Margaret Hodge, chair of the committee, said:

"Whistleblowers play such an important role that the previous government brought in legislation to protect them.

Mr Mba's evidence has been crucial in uncovering not just specific but systemic problems in HMRC's secretive relationship with big corporations.

This is harassment and is completely unacceptable."

Stephen Barclay, a Conservative MP on the committee, said:

 "We have already seen how whistleblowers from the health world have been stopped from disclosing information by their managers. It appears that a similar obstructive approach may now be being followed by Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs.

The committee will be making further inquiries to establish the facts to ensure that the will of parliament is being followed."

HMRC are quoted:

"It is essential that we establish the full facts in order to decide what action to take.

To this end we are carrying out a preliminary leak inquiry following the disclosure, including on the Guardian website, of internal departmental documents which may constitute a serious breach of confidential information.

This is the first time we have had an opportunity to see the documents and we will give careful consideration to this material."

I will be interesting to see which organisation has more power in this particular case and ends up winning, HMRC or parliament. Sadly for Mr Mba, he will be stuck firmly in the middle as the two organisations fight for supremacy.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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"