HMRC Service Announcement - Phone Lines Closed Until Monday

Our phone lines are closed from 4pm on Thursday 7 May until 8am on Monday 11 May. Our webchat services are still available on some of our services through our 'contact us' pages every day, except Easter Sunday https://t.co/Wl2BybKCpT pic.twitter.com/D7Bnnrg91l

— HM Revenue & Customs (@HMRCgovuk) May 7, 2020

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly
• Premiums are Annual Premiums.
• Premiums are inclusive of 12% IPT. 
• Premiums and IPT are due in full in advance / at commencement of scheme.
• There is a NIL excess on all policies.

Please click here for details.


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"

Glitch in HMRC's Eligibility Checker for SEISS?

Hundreds of people have told MoneySavingExpert.com that they have been rejected by HM Revenue & Customs' eligibility tool for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), despite believing they fit the eligibility criteria.

The tool has told many people that they're not eligible for any help via SEISS, one of the Government's coronavirus support schemes, raising concerns that many people who thought they would be covered would now feel disheartened and not knowing what to do.

Complaints have flooded in over the past 24 hours – including from people whose income is well below the £50,000 earnings threshold. HMRC has told MoneySavingExpert that the tool is working accurately.

An HMRC spokesperson said:

"We encourage people worried about their eligibility to review our guidance, speak with their accountant if they have one or to access our help services, including webinars and webchat.

There is also wide-ranging Government support available for those who can't use SEISS, such as 'bounce back loans', tax deferrals and universal credit.

Over the coming days, we're writing to around three-and-a-half million people who we think are eligible for this scheme – when they receive their email, text or letter they can go through our checker to confirm their eligibility and find out when to apply."

I suspect that if they have an accountant, that their accountant will be as baffled as they are!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly
• Premiums are Annual Premiums.
• Premiums are inclusive of 12% IPT. 
• Premiums and IPT are due in full in advance / at commencement of scheme.
• There is a NIL excess on all policies.

Please click here for details.


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 Takes Down Covid Fraud Sites

HMRC has asked internet service providers to take down 292 scam websites exploiting the coronavirus outbreak in order to steal money from consumers.

A Freedom of Information request by Griffin Law found out of the 292 sites removed since March, 237 had been identified and requested for removal by HMRC, with the remaining 55 flagged by members of the public.

HMRC also disclosed it had identified 62 phishing scams related to Covid-19 since March 23, the majority in the form of text message scams.

HMRC is quoted by the FT:

“Through our guidance on gov.uk and other communications to customers, we advise anyone who has disclosed personal or financial information to report it directly to Action Fraud.

“As we have cracked down on email and SMS phishing scams, criminals have increasingly turned to the traditional method of cold-calling publicly available phone numbers to steal money from taxpayers. 

“These typically take the form of an automated voice call claiming to represent HMRC and threatening legal action unless payment is made immediately. The calls spoof a valid HMRC telephone number in the caller ID field and provide a return number for victims to call to make a payment.”

Last month (April 21), it was revealed fraudsters were exploiting the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) with a phishing email scam pretending to be from HMRC in order to steal personal information.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly
• Premiums are Annual Premiums.
• Premiums are inclusive of 12% IPT. 
• Premiums and IPT are due in full in advance / at commencement of scheme.
• There is a NIL excess on all policies.

Please click here for details.


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"

Glitch In HMRC Income Support Scheme Eligibility Checker?

Just used HMRC's website to check if client is eligible for Self-employment Income Support Scheme grant (she is) but #HMRC say she isn't & told her to ask her accountant (who hasn't a clue why she isn't! 🤷‍♂️) Contacted HMRC who will reply by end of May. #selfemployed 🇬🇧➡️🐕🐕🐕🐕

— Stuart Jones (@StuartJones) May 5, 2020

I've just done another and it's come up with not eligible when she is eligible.

— Stuart Jones (@StuartJones) May 5, 2020

Is there a glitch in the HMRC eligibility checker?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly
• Premiums are Annual Premiums.
• Premiums are inclusive of 12% IPT. 
• Premiums and IPT are due in full in advance / at commencement of scheme.
• There is a NIL excess on all policies.

Please click here for details.


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"

Self Employed Can't Ask Their Accountant To Claim Grant

☞Today on 4th May HMRC have announced that the Self-
employed cannot ask their Accountant to make the claim
on their behalf.

☞ To make the claim the client has to have a government
gateway account full details are here:

☞ https://t.co/AOf5rgKqeN pic.twitter.com/VyP0VYL1n2

— ICPA (@ICPA_) May 4, 2020

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly
• Premiums are Annual Premiums.
• Premiums are inclusive of 12% IPT. 
• Premiums and IPT are due in full in advance / at commencement of scheme.
• There is a NIL excess on all policies.

Please click here for details.


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"

A Loyal Reader Asks

A loyal reader has asked me to post this:

"Ken can you post on your blog that HMRC have put an automated message on all their helplines and have closed off all helplines, also that their webchat feature is permanently busy and out of service."

Is this still the case?


Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly
• Premiums are Annual Premiums.
• Premiums are inclusive of 12% IPT. 
• Premiums and IPT are due in full in advance / at commencement of scheme.
• There is a NIL excess on all policies.

Please click here for details.


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"