Dog Whistle Politicians

I see that certain dog whistle politicians and the shouty tabloids are whipping themselves up into a frenzy over tax avoidance. Seemingly if only avoidance could be eradicated all our problems (revenue shortfalls, at least) could be eliminated.

Dr John Pugh (according to the Southport Visiter* - see extract below) certainly seems to think that tax avoidance is the scourge of our time.

*For reason best known to themselves they spell their organ "Visiter".

Aside from the fact that people have the well established legal right to organise their tax affairs in such a way (legally of course) so as to minimise their tax liabilities, Dr Pugh makes a rather sweeping generalisation about "clamping down properly on tax".

What exactly does that mean?

Are not our own "respected" MPs no slouches when it comes to avoiding tax, and to minimising their liabilities (eg via CGT relief on second homes etc)?

Was it not the profligacy of the last government that caused the national debt to balloon, rather than the tax avoidance practices by individuals, companies and MPs?

He and the "Visiter" then confuses tax avoidance with tax evasion.

Sadly it is people like this who have devised, and will continue to devise, our complex and absurdly burdensome tax system.

If only a dog whistle could be created that would lead them to live abroad and out of our lives!

"SOUTHPORT MP John Pugh wants a crackdown on tax cheats.

In a Parliamentary debate he called for an anti-avoidance law to tackle an issue that is costing the Government billions of pounds.

He said: “There are potentially massive sums that could be obtained through clamping down properly on tax.

“In 2008-09, for instance when the Government did crackdown, 12 billion of extra revenue was made.

“This just shows how much avoidance is going on.

“At a time when we face dealing with a large deficit, consideration about how this money is recouped is essential.”

Estimates on how much money is lost by the Treasury in evasion, avoidance and outstanding debts – the tax gap – is put at £40bn a year.

Dr Pugh said many governments tended to take an “after the horse has bolted approach” to dealing with tax avoidance.

He added: “Having a law would ensure that things are far easier to regulate.

“The argument usually used against implementing such a law is that it would lead to capital flight.

“However, Japan and Australia have already implemented such a law and it has not lead to this.

“It would also mean that less time would be spent by the Treasury devising complicated defences against it.”"

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

HMRC Knows Best II

The row over HMRC's new powers wrt withdrawing tax relief from any charity, if it feels that any of its senior employees or trustees is untrustworthy, is not abating.

Charity law firm Bates Wells & Braithwaite has stated that it will write to Liberty, asking it to back their campaign to have the law repealed.

Bates Wells & Braithwaite is of the view that the "fit and proper persons" test for charities, breaches the human rights of charity employees.

Rosamund McCarthy, partner at Bates Wells & Braithwaite, is quoted in the Third Sector as saying that the law could give HMRC the power to dismiss charity employees and trustees and bar them from working in the sector again, based on suspicion rather than proof of wrongdoing. It also gave those employees no right to appeal.

HMRC state that it assumed that all people appointed by charities were fit and proper persons, unless HMRC had other evidence.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Foot In Mouth

Ron Horne, managing partner of Johnston Carmichael, has written an article for the Herald in which he argues that "Negotiation, not litigation, is the best way for HMRC to cut down on tax avoidance schemes".

He notes that in October 2005, Dave Hartnett – then the director general of HMRC and now its permanent secretary for tax – announced a major change in the campaign against tax avoidance, going as far as saying that "tax avoidance would be stamped out by 2008".

Oh really?

Hartnett is not exactly a student of human nature, is he?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Fingers In The Till

From IFAonline:

"An HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) debt collection officer has been jailed after pleading guilty to stealing almost £85,000 from taxpayers.

Geoffrey Eley, 44, who worked collecting overdue payments from taxpayers, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison at Hereford Crown Court, the Redditch Advertiser reports.

Between 2001 and 2007, Eley visited businesses and individuals door-to-door, taking cash payments from 15 taxpayers which he then pocketed.

He conned taxpayers with photocopies of official HMRC receipts, leading them to believe they had settled their debts with HMRC.

Eley, a serving HMRC officer of almost 27 years, stole a total of £84,950 while individual amounts taken from taxpayers ranged from £1,000 to £28,904.

He attempted to cover his tracks by crediting the duped taxpayers' accounts with cheque payments received from unconnected third party taxpayers.

Joff Parsons, head of HMRC's internal governance criminal investigations, says: "HMRC expects the highest standards of behaviour from its staff.

"Eley abused his position of trust for personal gain.

"We will relentlessly pursue anyone who attempts to steal from public funds and they will face criminal sanctions."

He says HMRC has taken steps to ensure similiar abuses can not take place.

"Corruption amongst our staff is rare and will not be tolerated.""

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

A Recipe For Confusion

The government has proposed a General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR), which would effectively put a blanket ban on any accounting structure that could be judged as a tax loophole – without any specific rule being in breach.

A recipe for confusion for both HMRC and taxpayers, that will cause more disputes than it attempts to resolve.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Computer Says No - Death and Taxes

As the old saying goes:

"there are only two certainties in life, death and taxes".

HMRC, in an effort to save time and energy, have decided to pre empt the former.

That at least was the case for Tonie Francis, whose family were sent a letter by HMRC's tax credit office in Preston informing them that she was dead. The letter requested details of Miss Francis's next of kin, and a copy of her will.

However, there was a small fly in HMRC's oinkment, Ms Francis is still very much alive!

She therefore called HMRC to correct the error.

Can you guess what happened next?

Yes, that's right, HMRC refused to talk to her because she was dead; needless to say her tax credits and child benefit were stopped as well.

HMRC are blaming their hapless and hopeless IT system for this error.

If the HMRC computer had human feelings it would be feeling very hurt and upset by now, given how many times it has been blamed for HMRC's cock ups.

It might also remind its human masters that the computer is only as good as the information put into it by humans.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Time Wasting

A loyal reader (who runs a small business) advises me that last week he got a letter from HMRC claiming that he had missed PAYE and NIC payments for the period 6th April to 5th May 2010.

Fair enough, except that he pays these quarterly and the amounts were not yet due for that particularly quarter.

On calling HMRC using the number given on the letter he was told "it's because of the new penalty rules, this letter has gone out to all quarterly payers".

He was told to phone another number to get the fact he was a quarterly payer recorded properly.

He rang the number, and was told that it was the wrong number; a new number was given to him.

The new number given, when called, gave a recorded message "this number is currently unavailable".

Several days of fruitless ringing, and he then re rang the first number (the one on the letter).

This time the call centre operative was able/willing to update the records there and then!

Have other quarterly PAYE/NIC payers had to endure the same time wasting "game of hide and seek" enforced on them by HMRC?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Stalinism and HMRC

Did Lesley Strathie really say this?

"At a 'town hall event' Strathie said:

'I think you need to be a bit like Stalin, a dictator, to create a democracy.'

!!!

Fact."

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

On The Town With Dave Hartnett

Despite the cutbacks at HMRC it is gratifying toe read that Dave Hartnett, permanent secretary for tax at HMRC, (the self proclaimed scourge of tax avoiders) wins the title of Whitehall's most wined and dined civil servant.

The Telegraph reports that Hartnett has treated to corporate hospitality on 107 occasions over the past three years, mostly at breakfasts, lunches and dinners, by some of the UK's biggest banks, law firms and accountancy firms.

It should of course not escape your notice that these firms are paid by people and companies to help them (perfectly legitimately) avoid tax.

The good news is of course that HMRC, I assume, hasn't directly paid for these meals. Indirectly, I dare say, the firms who shelled out for them have charged the costs to their clients (so in the end the British public have ended up paying for this dining fest).

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

The Death of The Enquiry Centre

Despite the fact that HMRC's call centres are unloved by both taxpayers and staff alike, those who "run" HMRC are determined to reduce the number of opportunities that taxpayers have for face to face discussions with a member of staff.

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) report that HMRC has cut the opening hours in 58 of its 280 tax enquiry centres, with some now open for just one or two days a week.

They also note that another 117 might suffer cuts as well, as a result of a consultation that is currently underway.

HMRC told AccountingWEB:

"HMRC's customers across the UK are increasingly using our telephone and online services, rather than visiting our face-to-face enquiry centres, which has led to us reviewing the opening hours of those centres with lower footfall.

Face-to-face inquiries have reduced across the UK by 40% since 2006/07. During 2008, we piloted reduced opening in 10 locations with no adverse impact on customers, and in March 2010 we introduced shorter opening hours at 58 centres across the UK."

There's the "C" word again!

LITRG contend that the reduced demand is due to the fact that the quality of service offered is "pants" (so to speak), and that the hapless taxpayer is forced to go to the voluntary sector for decent advice.

Are call centres (if you can get through) better than a face to face enquiry centre?

Views and opinions welcome, as always.

BTW, HMRC contend that the staff who work in the enquiry centres facing cuts will be deployed to other duties (eg answering correspondence).

Do the members of staff facing these cuts actually believe that?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

HMRC Knows Best

HMRC have stated, in a reply to Bates Wells & Braithwaite, that they are better than the Charity Commission when it comes to determining which charities are fraudulent:

"HMRC has already identified fraud by individuals and charities registered by the commission and OSCR, which suggests that the charity regulators' checks are clearly not sufficient for effective tax administration."

A Charity Commission spokesman is quoted in ThirdSector:

"The commission and HMRC have different regulatory roles and perspectives, but we work closely to prevent the fraudulent abuse of charities."

Is it really an effective use of time and money for two bodies to be looking at the same thing?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

There Is Nothing Like a Dame!

I see that Lesley Strahtie (CEO of HMRC) has been made Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath, in the Queen's birthday honours list over the weekend.

Given that HMRC is bottom of the league of civil service departments, as judged by its own staff, and given that the taxpayers ("customers" as Ms Strathie prefers to call them) are none too impressed either with HMRC; I am somewhat at a loss to understand why she has been made a Dame.

Can anyone provide an explanation?

On the face of it this appears to be rewarding failure.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Lesley Strathie On Watchdog - Everything's Fine

Lesley Strathie (CEO of HMRC) on last night's Watchdog:

"HMRC wants to deliver a first class tax service. We are acutely aware that we sometimes fall short of our ambition. The numbers of people we deal with every year, sometimes on extremely complex issues, are simply enormous. We handle around 1.2 million telephone calls a week and receive some 74 million letters a year. It only takes a small number of our transactions to go wrong for a lot of people to be affected. That's why I am determined to make the services we provide as good as they can possibly be. I accept that we still have a long way to go and I apologise to those who have had problems.

The vast majority of people who do business with HMRC do not experience problems. They are taxed correctly and have their correspondence dealt with in a reasonable time. I know, however, that this is of little consolation to all those who have not received the effective and efficient service we aim to provide.

We will continue to focus our resources onto those areas where we must improve. I am grateful to those customers who have taken the time and trouble to tell us about their experiences. I will ensure that HMRC learns from this feedback to deliver the best possible service to all our customers within the resources available to us."

Will all you "customers" please stop moaning, everything's fine!

Chill out people!;)

Video here: Watchdog

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Lesley Strathie On Watchdog

I understand that Lesley Strathie will appear on tonight's Watchdog (BBC1 20:00).

"The taxman cometh. Why can't he add up?"

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

HMRC Reinterprets Tax Law

Clive Gawthorpe (tax partner at UHY Hacker Young) warns that HMRC, in its desire to increase tax take from investigations by a further £4BN this year, will reinterpret the law in order to increase tax take from investigations.

"In many cases it is the result of HMRC reinterpreting tax law. If an individual or business can't afford to challenge HMRC's decision through the tribunals and court system, then HMRC wins."

You have been warned.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

HMRC Loses Track of Data

This Is Money reports that HMRC have told Sipp provider AJ Bell that it could not divulge any reliable statistics on pensions:

"Pension scheme services is experiencing systems difficulties in collating intermediate level of detail in some areas. It is now clear that these problems may be more widespread.

IT is currently investigating this but it means the data we have already provided should not be relied upon. Until we are comfortable the data we produce is correct, it would be wrong to provide further summaries which may present a misleading and unreliable picture.."

It is hardly surprising that this situation has arisen, the tax and pensions rules in the UK are "insanely" complex. A cynic might conclude that they were made deliberately complex, in order to prevent ordinary people from understanding them.

Will the new government do something about this?

Aside from some window dressing, I doubt that there will be any major changes that will simplify the system (forthcoming changes to pension and CGT rules may well complicate it further).

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

LOL!

From the Bournemouth Echo:

"A PENSIONER was shocked to receive a cheque for more than £1.5 million when she applied for a £33 tax rebate.

Elizabeth Jenkins, 86, from Bournemouth, told a national Sunday newspaper she phoned HM Revenue and Customs after spotting they had taken £33 from her account incorrectly.

They promised a refund, but when, six months later, she had still not received it, she called again to chase up the matter.

Elizabeth was told that a cheque had been sent – and cashed – but records showed it had been sent to the wrong person at the wrong address.

Officials promised to send another cheque, but the widowed mum-of-two was left stunned when it eventually arrived on her doormat – because it was made out for £1,511,533.80.

Retired civil servant Elizabeth hasn't cashed it, but said she was still waiting for the right amount.

She said: 'I'm sure that if the roles were reversed and I had owed them money for over a year I'd probably be in jail now.

They would hound me and hound me until I paid it back. So I’m going to hound them.'

An HMRC spokesman said: 'We handle huge numbers of tax repayments and unfortunately things sometimes go wrong.

When they do we apologise and sort things out as quickly as possible.' "

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

Hanging On The Telephone - Single Line Opened

Good news everyone!

Those of you who are agents, who are fed up with hanging on the telephone trying to get through to HMRC will have to wait no longer.

HMRC are to introduce a single telephone number for agents to call.

Agents can now call 0845 366 7855 for tax and self assessment enquiries.

There is a separate Agent Priority Line for Tax Credits - 0845 300 3943



Brian Redford, head of HMRC's Business Engagement Team, told AIA:

"Agents told us that they wanted us make it easier to contact HMRC and wanted a single helpline. So we have reduced the number of Agent Dedicated Lines from twelve to just one.

This will give agents access to the same number of experienced staff who can answer their queries, but without having to decide which regional ADL was relevant to their clients."

Problem solved!

Please can agents fill me in with their real world experience of using these new lines?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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"

HMRC Staff Survey 2010 - Strathie Responds

In February 2010 HMRC published the results of their staff survey which were less than, ermmm, "encouraging".

The good news is that, some 4 months after publication, Lesley Strathie (CEO of HMRC) has commented/responded to HMRC staff about the results on the HMRC intranet.

The bad news is that it may take a wee while for the promised improvements to materialise. Strathie expects the results of the next survey to be equally dismal:

"We may not see much, if any, improvement in the next set of People Survey results. These issues are deep-seated and will take time to turn round; with your help, we can do that."

As John Maynard Keynes once said:

"In the long run we are all dead".

Here is the text of her message:

"Whenever I visit one of our offices, it's not long before someone asks what we are doing in response to our People Survey results (PDF). It is one of the biggest issues in the Hotseat and I know people take the whole issue extremely seriously. Quite rightly, I want to see action.

Let me be clear. The results of the People Survey were incredibly disappointing and, along with my ExCom colleagues, I appreciate most of you are passionate about the work you do. It is not acceptable for HMRC to be placed as poorly as it was and we need to work hard to reverse that situation.

Over the last few months, we have looked carefully at the results. We have done a great deal of research about what motivates people in HMRC; what do you expect from us as an employer; and what gets you out of bed in the morning.

This has given us a real understanding of the action we need to take. It is why we are looking at the following three big areas that we are confident will make a real difference.

Getting leadership right

The first is leadership. Getting the right leaders in place with the right skills is absolutely critical if we are to motivate people and unlock their potential. That's why we are making it clear what good leadership is and – equally importantly – spelling out the actions and approaches we do not want to see in this Department. We will be very clear that bad leadership has no place in HMRC.

This won't just be words on a page. Our appraisal and reward strategies are being redesigned so it is clear what we, and you, can expect from our leaders. The customer is central to all of this, along with a more open and collaborative approach. We are also looking at the skills our leaders have and the support we can give so they can do their jobs better. You will see more about this from July.
Great expectations

The second big area of work is all about the relationship our people have with us as their employer. That means being clear about what you can expect from us and what, in return, we can expect from you. This will cover many of the practicalities around our work.

It will look at a range of topics including how you can expect your career to progress; the benefits you receive as an employee; and the type and amount of work we can reasonably expect from you when you're at work.

We've already started on this and we will be talking to many of you about what this means in practice over the summer months. We are, of course, working closely with our trade unions on all of this.

The work itself

People have repeatedly told us they want more of a say in the decisions that affect their work. This is already a fundamental part of PaceSetter, which we are continuing to introduce and embed across the whole Department.

HMRC's strategy, which will be launched in the autumn, sets out how our processes and procedures will be designed around the behaviours and needs of our customers. Clearly, the involvement of the people who interact with our customers day in and day out will be a fundamental part of this work. We will tell you more about what this means during September and October.

Your own business areas are also committed to acting on the results of the survey. You should have all had conversations with your line managers by now about your team’s results and what can be done about them.

Our challenge

It is important to be realistic and honest about the challenges we face. Things will not get any easier over the coming months. Equally, there is no magic wand we can wave to improve the way people feel about the Department.

We may not see much, if any, improvement in the next set of People Survey results. These issues are deep-seated and will take time to turn round; with your help, we can do that.

Despite the challenges we face, our achievements as a Department are considerable. We need to be proud of what we do but should never forget that we can always do better."

Tax does have to be taxing.

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I've Got A Little List

Yesterday David Cameron released a list of civil servants who are paid more than him. Here is an extract, showing those who are in HMRC:

Mike Clasper
Chair HM Revenue & Customs
Non-executive
HM Revenue & Customs
£150,000 - £154,999
3 days per week

Steve Lamey
Director General Benefits & Credits
Director General
HM Revenue & Customs
£205,000 - £209,999

Simon Bowles
Chief Finance Officer
Director General
HM Revenue & Customs
£185,000 - £189,999

Phil Pavitt
Chief Information Officer
Director General
HM Revenue & Customs
£180,000 - £184,999

Mike Falvey
Chief People Officer
Director General
HM Revenue & Customs
£175,000 - £179,999

Lesley Strathie
Chief Executive Officer
Permanent Secretary
HM Revenue & Customs
£170,000 - £174,999

Dave Hartnett
Permanent Secretary For Tax
Permanent Secretary
HM Revenue & Customs
£160,000 - £164,999

Source: BBC

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"

Meltdown III

The Telegraph reports that up to 100,000 people may have paid too much tax, as a result of the ongoing tax coding problems arising from the new HMRC computer system.

The newspaper quotes a memo sent to tax organisations by David Ellis, from HMRC's Business Customer Unit:

"Our contact centre has received roughly 50,000 calls about this matter and has estimated that there could be up to 100,000 people affected in total.

If you receive any enquiries from your employees or pensioners about this please ask them to contact us in the usual way."

Good luck to those who are trying to get through to a call centre to correct their codes.

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"