The Farmers' Union of Wales is a tad peeved with HMRC's directive that all VAT returns be filed online as from 1 April this year.
Emyr James, the union's business development director, has told the Farmers' Guardian that some farmers in remote areas do not have a computer or do not have access to broadband.
HMRC have suggested that these farmers ask a friend to offer them access, or employ an agent.
Funny that, I though HMRC didn't like agents?
Emyr James is not impressed:
"This is a typically heavy-handed government approach, showing very little appreciation of the true situation for many small-to-medium-sized enterprises."
Tax does have to be taxing.
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This is the same reply that small business' got re employers & CT Returns. After years of calling for cuts in staff numbers the public are getting what they wanted - no staff to process manual forms means everything has to be done by computer.
ReplyDeleteHear hear. Next time you read the latest bollox in the Mail, reflect on what efficiency savings actually mean.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous two commenters... we keep pushing for lower taxes and now we are suffering the consequences.
ReplyDeleteCutting government department jobs is unlikely to actually produce savings without costing that department staff who do the actual work involved!
Its unlikely they will ever get rid of the middle and upper management and far more likely that front end staff will go!
Apparently you need more senior managers to "manage change". That is why there are an ever increasing numbers of jobs at grade 7 & above whilst the numbers of staff to be managed reduces.
ReplyDeleteIts almost funny listening to MP's and the media demanding cuts in the number of over paid, gold plated pension, faceless bureaucrats in Whitehall and then celebrating cutting swathes of front line staff everywhere else. Then they complain the work doesn't get done.
this has been in the pipeline for some time ... and HMRC do not not link agents - they just dont like the ones who make their jobs more difficult.
ReplyDeleteIf HMRC and other governments are so short of money and manpower it's odd that they can't stick to existing IT systems using tried and tested methods, like standard HTML forms interfacing to host-based systems.
ReplyDeleteInstead they switch to complex Abobe based-submission and verification systems on the user machines that can have all sort of conflicts with other software, interfacing to obviously poorly tested xlbr systems on the host.
I have given up with online submissions after spending hours on technical problems that have nothing to so with the data entered by me. If online submission becomes compulsory and unless the systems improve I will just dump the company. For a small profit it isn't worth the aggro.
As I keep saying on here, the best way to improve efficiency is to simplify tax law. For example, why not do away with depreciation and capital allowances below £5k? Why do we need P11d and P11db? Harmonise the NI and tax rules and use one form.
Complex tax rules, red tape and and crappy IT systems are just destroying any incentive to make an effort in the UK.
"If HMRC and other governments are so short of money and manpower it's odd that they can't stick to existing IT systems using tried and tested methods..." Could it be that the private companies employed to create these systems make more money that way?
ReplyDeleteThe reason for the P11D & P11Db is because they are liabilities/declarations for two separate legal entities. The P11D declares the benefit received by the individual so they can pay the tax they owe. They do not pay NI on that benefit. The P11Db is the employers declaration of the NI that they owe. Not saying the law shouldn't be simplified, just explaining why its like that now. You could just scrap NI completely and add it on to income tax, but
a)you would lose the employers share (they pay more than employees). That money would have to be found somewhere else.
b)We would all have an extra 10%+ on income tax. No politician is going to make that change.