HMRC's Sparkling Digital Future

As per The Journal, HMRC have opened a "pioneering" digital centre in Benton, Newcastle.

David Gauke opened the centre, the first of its kind, which will help hundreds of thousands of people deal with their finances online.

Gauke said: 

“Being digital by default not only means creating simpler and better services for millions of HMRC customers, but saving tax payers’ money in the process too.

It’s a privilege to open the new HMRC digital delivery centre in Newcastle, which is pioneering the way in making services better and cheaper.

I look forward to seeing the results of their innovative work in the coming months and years.”

Gauke sat in on a "customer" feedback session during his visit.

"Customers" had a chance to preview new transactions online which are currently in development, such as ‘friends and family’, which allows someone to nominate a person to act on their behalf in their tax matters.

They then fed back to the teams what they liked and disliked about the service on different platforms, and how it can be improved.

Their comments will be taken on in the next design stage of the services to benefit future customers who will use it when it is fully rolled out.

Hey Hoh!

The future is firmly in front of us!

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 Advice For Pensioners? - Sod Off!

Tony Hazell, writing in the FT, has issued a heartfelt plea for people (pensioners in particular) to be given some help by the state wrt filling in and understanding the ever more complex tax forms that are being spewed out by HMRC.

"I am currently helping a pensioner who in the space of a few months was sent a tax rebate, then an overdue tax demand and then asked to make a payment on account.

She is now owed several thousand pounds by HMRC, but the initial error stemmed from a mistake she made in filling in her tax return. This was compounded by another error when she did not understand how to account for tax HMRC was already collecting through her code. 

The whole affair has caused her untold stress.

The difficulty is that as more people are forced to fill in self-assessment forms, there will inevitably be more mistakes. Yet HMRC is itself under financial strain and does not appear to have the resources to help those who need it.

Advice services are springing up everywhere for pensions and investments, but I see no sign of government-sponsored help for those struggling to understand their tax.

This lady was not a tax dodger, she was simply confused and could not afford to pay an accountant to sort out the form for her.

If this government and its successors plan to continue dragging ever more pensioners into self-assessment, then it must make sure HMRC has the resources and training to help those who struggle to understand its forms."

Sadly this plea will fall on deaf ears, as I noted wrt HMRC's Building Our Future strategy, the policy of HMRC and the government is for pensioners to be told to sod off!

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"

DRD Unconstitutional

Unsurprisingly many people are still vexed (to put it mildly) about the proposals to allow HMRC to take money from recalcitrant debtors' bank accounts (aka “Direct Recovery of Debt” - DRD).

The simple fact of the matter is that no one trusts HMRC not to screw this up, nor not to be tempted to abuse these powers.

Latest in the long line of organisations to criticise this proposal is the ICAEW Tax Faculty, which stated that the safeguards are far from adequate and that HMRC “should go back a step and consult properly


”.

Powers such as these require independent judicial oversight, the ICAEW are quoted in economia:

“this contravenes the constitutional principle of separation of powers”. 

ICAEW believes tax recovery powers must be “fair, proportionate and accompanied by robust safeguards”.

Given HMRC's preponderance to make errors, and to target those who are the easiest to target, it is hardly surprising that no one trusts them with these powers.


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 94% Error Rate

Kudos to HMRC for making so many mistakes wrt tax demands that the Tax Adjudicator found that 94% of those submitted to the Adjudicator were wrong, necessitating HMRC to issue almost £4M in refunds and write-offs together with £250K redress for "poor service".

Judy Clements, head of the adjudicator’s office, said:

“If my office can mediate a complaint, then the department should have been able to resolve that complaint without the customer feeling the need to refer the matter to me.

Customers often compliment the direct personal discussion my staff have with them during the mediation of cases. I feel certain this is the sort of tailored response customers can and should expect from all departments.”

She said she had seen instances where there was “no sense of urgency when making decisions on customer issues” and where HMRC staff “do not appreciate the impact matters may have on individual customers.”

A total of 12,074 enquiries were made to the adjudicator in the year. The majority of cases it took on related to instances where HMRC had sent shock bills to people who had unwittingly underpaid tax. HMRC was found at fault in 94% of these cases, with the taxpayer issued redress.

The Telegraph has published a guide on how to fight your corner with HMRC:

Sometimes mistakes are not corrected for several years. There are rules to ensure fairness in such instances. The debt should be written off under “extra-statutory concession A19” or ESC A19 if three conditions are met: 

- did HMRC make “proper and timely” use of information provided to it; 
- could the taxpayer have “reasonably have believed their tax affairs were in order”; 
- and was notification sent within 12 months of the end of the tax year in question?

HMRC still routinely rejects applications for ESC A19. 

If this happens, you need to fight your case.

First, ask your local tax office to apply ESC A19. If it refuses, file a complaint outlining what happened, when, what effect the error had on you and why you qualify for the concession, and the matter should be put right. For a guide to the concession, see hmrc.gov.uk/esc/esc.htm.

For income tax complaints, call 0300 200 3300 or write to HM Revenue & Customs, Pay As You Earn, PO Box 1970, Liverpool L75 1WX. 

If you are unsatisfied, ask for a “formal review”. If this fails, a second review will provide a final response. The next step is to contact the adjudicator. The service is free and impartial. 

You must write within six months of a final response, providing reasons for complaint and a copy of the final decision letter. Call the adjudicator on 0300 057 1111 or write to The Adjudicator’s Office, PO Box 10280, Nottingham NG2 9PF. If you believe justice has not been done, write to your MP and ask for the matter to be investigated by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, who will look into why the adjudicator rejected your claim.

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 Home Visits Query

A loyal reader has asked that I raise a query with other loyal readers about HMRC home visits.

She and her husband believe that they may be entitled to a home visits, based on their personal circumstances, and asks:

-  How does this work in practice?

- What can be expected wrt the competency or otherwise of HMRC's home visitors?

Please comment if you have any information that may be of help.

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"

Homer Admits She Gets Paid a Lot

Around mid July Lin Homer was asked about her £20K bonus, she said that she should keep it as it reflected “a very good performance”.

Unsurprisingly, given that some HMRC staff do not receive basic pay that amounts to £20K per annum, the issue was raised at a recent HMRC Hotseat Q&A on the intranet.

My thanks to a loyal reader who passed on a transcript of the relevant part:

"Lin Homer Bonus

Can you please tell everyone how you think you can justify the £20,000 bonus that is widely reported in today's media?

This is when all my colleagues have had to put up with either a 1% or no increase on their wages in the last few years that in real money equates to a wage decrease. The bonus you are receiving is actually more than an AA or AO grades salary!

If you did receive an exceed for your PMR then you should be receiving £3607 bonus which is 1.95% of your £185000 salary.

I look forward as does everyone else to your response.
Anon

Answer

Thank you for your question. I know that pay is a really important issue for you at the moment so I’m happy to explain the position on SCS pay, which is handled differently to AA to G6 pay.

Some years ago, a pot of about 9 per cent was created by putting some of SCS base pay into a non-consolidated pot, which was then awarded only to top and achieved performers.

This Government decided to freeze all but a third of that pot and only makes awards to top performers. These awards continue to be distributed.

I should stress that pay and performance management for senior civil servants are handled centrally by the Cabinet Office. In the case of Permanent Secretaries, a remuneration committee – with an independent chair – recommends whether to pay an award and the amount, after considering a wide range of feedback and evidence.

During my time as a SCS, in line with that process, I have been awarded a bonus on a number of occasions and not on others. This is based on evidence and a comparative analysis across all Permanent Secretaries. The decision is reported our Annual Report, and it’s this that prompted the Telegraph piece.

On my visits to our offices and at events many of you tell me the public sector pay cap is making things tough for you financially. I understand why my performance award has generated some strong feelings as I do get paid a lot."

You will observe that Homer doesn't actually answer the question wrt "justifying" it, she passes the buck saying that others have approved it.

On the plus side, she does at least admit that she gets paid a lot!

All happy with that response then?

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"