Thuggish Bailiffs III - HMRC Flouts Agreements

It seems that "time to pay" agreements made by taxpayers with HMRC regarding tax debts are not always honoured by HMRC.

The FT reports that business owners who have thought that they have made a "time to pay" agreement with HMRC, have been less than pleased to receive letters from third party debt collection agencies threatening them with confiscation of their assets.

These letters are being sent to businesses who have not breached the repayment terms agreed with HMRC.

The letters often include phrases such as "our records suggest that you have ignored our previous requests" and "if you do not comply with our request we have to assume you are unwilling to pay and will take distraint action which may involve taking your assets".

However, HMRC are of the view that there is no problem. They are quoted by the FT:

"Each time-to-pay arrangement exists for a specific debt or debts, so debts not covered by the arrangement may be sent to a debt collection agency (DCA).

If, exceptionally, a customer believes that a debt included in an arrangement has been referred to a DCA, it should contact us immediately."

So that's alright then, simply contact HMRC immediately and the problem will be resolved!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Thuggish Bailiffs II

Last week I wrote about HMRC's debt chasing letters, sent to people who are overdue with their tax bill.

George Mudie, deputy chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, described HMRC's tactics as akin to "thuggish bailiffs".

Sadly it seems (according to the Mail) that these letters are not just sent to people who are late in paying their tax, but also to those who have spoken to HMRC and have agreed a debt repayment plan with HMRC.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Hotseat IV - Dame Lesley Speaks

It seems that the furore over HMRC's recent Hotseat "Question 23", re offices with poor staff survey scores being closed, shows no signs of abating.

My thanks to a loyal reader who has sent me a typed copy of Dame Lesley Strathie's intranet musings on the issue. I am advised that this is typed exactly as it appears on the HMRC intranet:

"Message from Lesley Strathie: the People Survey and the information you will give us

You may have heard speculation about the role the People Survey plays here in HMRC.

The first thing to stress is that the People Survey is your chance to share your views about life and work her in the department, It's an opportunity to make your voice heard and for us to listen to what you tell us.

We're under no illusion about the scale of the challenge - especially given the results of the most recent surveys. That's why it's so important that you take part.

An engaged workforce is a more productive workforce and the very best performers, whether it's the London Ambulance Service, John Lewis Partnership or Tesco, recognise this.

In all of these organisations, leaders and managers know that positively encouraging people to perform at their best is the most important thing that they do.

David MacLeod calls this a "blindingly obvious but nevertheless often-overlooked truth" in his report into employee engagement (pdf), published by the department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

This is the approach we are adopting here in HMRC. It's not unique to us but it's a tried and tested route to success. While it is clear we have some considerable way to go, we have already seen some improvements in parts of HMRC.

For the Department's leadership, it is about learning from these successes- finding out why so me teams are so much more engaged in the Department's goals and motivated to deliver their part in our success than many others.

We need to ensure we create a similar environment across the Department, so everyone feels as motivated and engaged.

I feel I should stress that when we talk about engagement here in HMRC, we aren't talking simply about the results of the People Survey. Neither are we talking about happiness.

We're talking about our ability to be more productive and all that means in terms of servicing our customers and reducing the tax gap.

I know from your Hotseat questions and forum discussions many of you have been asking about office closures, how we make our decisions and whether the People Survey has a bearing. I have also seen one reply that suggested engagement scores may be a deciding factor. So I want to make our position clear on the office closures.

When it comes to making these difficult decisions, we look at a number of factors, which are fully discussed with our trade unions.

They mainly involve whether leases breaks are available (in line with government guidelines) and whether reduced numbers of people mean we need fewer offices in a location. If all things are equal and decisions have to made between locations productivity will, of course, come into it. It's far more likely that offices with low engagement will be less productive - that's the only link that we would make. Our consideration will include how to retain our most knowledgeable, skilled and motivated staff and managers because that is what we know we need in HMRC.

The people survey is your chance to share your views about life and work here in the Department. It's an opportunity to make your voice heard and for us to act on what you tell us about - from the resilience of some of our IT to the quality of your desk top PCs and in our approach to vacancy filling across all business areas.

The Change Programme and this year's Business Plan demonstrates the extent of our work to remove many of the causes of the frustration. Your input has helped us prioritise.

You'll see more about the actions we're taking in response to the People Survey on the intranet and in Pulse from early next month.

I wish you all a happy Easter and, on behalf of the Executive Committee our thanks for your dedication and hard work over the last tax year

Lesley Strathie

Chief Executive"

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Hotseat III - HMRC Backpedals

I am advised by a loyal reader that HMRC's Hotseat Question 23 briefly disappeared from the HMRC intranet, only to reappear with this addendum.

Could that sound we hear be the sound of furious backpedalling from HMRC "management"?

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Thuggish Bailiffs

Here is an extract of a letter sent out by HMRC, chasing up overdue tax, as published in the Mail:

"Since I last wrote to you, most of those still owing tax have paid, making their contribution to the vital services we all depend on.

We still haven't received your tax payment, and my team are now focusing attention on the rapidly reducing number of people like you who have yet to pay. Not paying your tax on time has serious consequences. We must collect this tax from you to pay for the hospitals and schools we all rely on.

We will do that by taking your possessions and auctioning them publicly. We don't like doing this because people have told us it is embarrassing for them and it will cost you so much more to pay this way.

For instance, if your car is worth several thousand pounds, it might sell for only a few hundred pounds at auction, a flat-screen TV costing £2,000 would typically sell for about £200-£300, and an £800 laptop would sell for about £100.

To avoid this, please call one of my team on the number at the top of this letter to pay by debit or credit card. Some people who have a problem paying their tax bury their head in the sand. In fact, many people find that speaking to us helps."

George Mudie, deputy chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, is unimpressed with this and intends to raise the issue with George Osborne.

Quote:

"It is not for the Revenue to behave like thuggish bailiffs threatening to seize people's property. It is inappropriate and immoral to use such threatening, harassing language."

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Hotseat II

Folks, re yesterday's article, I had a few technical problems at this end. They have now been resolved and I have now uploaded the "hotseat" Q&A re staff survey results and office closures.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Hotseat

My thanks to a loyal reader who forwarded me an extract of a recent "hotseat" interaction posted on the HMRC intranet.

It seems that HMRC offices that produce poor staff survey results in the future may be closed!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Simples!

Quel Demage!

The Treasury Select Committee has issued a report that concludes that much more work is needed before the tax system is said to be moving towards simplification.

It seems that, at "best", the measures taken by George Osborne have slowed "the rate of increase of complexity".

Accountancy Age quote the report:

"However, the primary duty for securing simplification should lie with the Government in its design and administration of the tax system."

Quite right!

Sadly the politicians, who are repsonsibile for this mess, have no real intention of simplifying the system. We are locked on a "defined path" of ever increasing complexity.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Off Sick

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union in HM Revenue and Customs have voted convincingly to take industrial action in opposition to a new policy on managing sickness.

In a ballot of more than 50,000 members, there was a good turnout of 41%, with 59% supporting strike action and 84% in favour of industrial action short of a strike.

The union is committed to trying to negotiate a settlement to the dispute and meetings are scheduled in the coming days.

PCS revenue and customs group secretary Peter Lockhart said: "This was a very good response to a ballot and, coupled with the clear vote in favour of action, it shows how strongly our members feel..."

We hope senior managers will now agree that trying to impose draconian new policies on their workforce is not the way forward, and we hope they will come back to the table with a willingness to resolve this dispute.

Source Politics

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Sauce For The Goose

The FT reports that taxpayers, who have overpaid tax (as a result of PAYE coding errors) are now having to wait months for tax refunds due to them from HMRC.

It seems that the problems originally caused by computer systems being unable to match individuals with multiple sources of income have been exacerbated by stringent security checks.

Richard Mannion, national tax director at Smith & Williamson, is quoted:

"While there is clearly a need to carry out such checks, a delay of 10 weeks or more is excessive."

In one example, a taxpayer has been waiting over ten weeks for his repayment, even though he has paid tax since 1965, lived at the same address since 1995 and has submitted self-assessment returns since 1996.

'In this particular example HMRC ought to find it very easy to check its records to verify his claim,' says Mr Mannion. 'What I don't understand is why it takes ten weeks or more to do this.'"

Maybe, when taxpayers are asked by HMRC to pay overdue tax they should delay the payment so that they can carry out stringent security checks on HMRC?

With HMRC, sauce for the goose is evidently not sauce for the gander!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Turning Japanese

My thanks to a loyal reader, who posted a comment yesterday about HMRC's Pacesetter programme (the Japanese management "tool" imported by HMRC from Toyota - a company currently experiencing quality control problems - et al).

It seems that Pacesetter is so loaded with jargon (some of which is actually in Japanese) that a "jargon busting" booklet of 11 pages has been produced (courtesy of the tax revenues raised from the taxpayers), to help explain the jargon to the increasingly bemused and confused long suffering staff of HMRC.

Here is the comment in full:

"From the heart of the "Beast" itself comes proof positive (as if it were needed at this stage) Pacesetter Jargon Buster, yep another one you couldn't dream up only this proves that HMRC has really lost the plot...there are 11 pages of crap purely given over to the jargon associated with Pacesetter, that's right dear customer, tax payer, reader or whatever, 11 pages!

What is going on FFS?

There are even Japanese words and phrases needing explaining listed in the 11 pages.
How much has this poisoned chalice cost the taxpayer?
More than you might believe.

So whether you believe it or not is immaterial, the fact remains that phrases and words like swim lane flowchart, Poka Yoke (aka error proofing) Heijunka, Ishikawa, Jidoka, Kaizen, Muda (Japanese for waste!!!) Problem-Solving "O" (unsure about this, query sexual act), as might Sensai be?
Take your pick people....

Were all doomed I tell ye, doomed, aye...."

Being in awe of Japanese management/leadership techniques is all very well, maybe. However, as the ongoing disaster in Japan is proving, government/management based on consensus and contemplation does not work in times of crisis. The Japanese are crying out for someone to "step up to the plate" and take charge/responsibility.

Where are the leaders when you really need them?

Into the valley of death rode the 103rd..

Needless to say, if anyone is able to email me a copy of the jargon buster I will be more than happy to upload it onto the site.

Sayonara everyone!

"Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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 Dash For Cash

In order to aid its "dash for cash" (ie increase its tax take) HMRC will be hiring 1,150 temporary staff to work between now and March 2012.

However, HMRC have denied that it paying bonuses to staff for increasing the tax take.

I wonder how well trained theses temporary staff will be?

Maybe some of temps hired will be those HMRC staff recently made redundant?

Comments and opinions, as ever, are always welcome.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Internships

The Guardian reports that the Low Pay Commission has criticised HMRC for lax enforcement of minimum wage laws and the payment of interns.

The LPC's annual report recommends that HMRC needs to take stronger action on unpaid internships.

The LPC wanted to see "effective [legal] enforcement" from HMRC, who are responsible for ensuring that interns are paid the minimum wage if their placements can be considered to be work.

Fair enough!

May I suggest that HMRC pay a visit to a certain Deputy Prime Minister (Nick Clegg).

For why?

Read this on Nanny Knows Best.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Well Done!

The UK tax authorities have been voted the worst for getting bills wrong in an annual poll.

Consumers believe that HMRC was the worst culprit for sending out inaccurate bills between 2010 and 2011.

Well done lads!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Happy Worse Off Wednesday

From the Telegraph:

"Dubbed "Worse off Wednesday", changes to personal taxes will shrink household income by £500m this year while welfare cuts remove a further £1.8bn, according to Capital Economics.

Coming on top of soaring inflation, the fiscal squeeze will have the effect of reducing real pay this month by 1.5pc.

Not everyone will be worse off. The personal tax allowance in being increased from £6,475 to £7,475, taking 880,000 people out of tax and gifting 23m basic rate taxpayers up to £170 each.

However, the cut is being paid for by an decrease in the higher rate threshold from £43,875 to £42,475, lifting 750,000 people into the 40p tax bracket, as well as a 1p rise in National Insurance.

Higher earners will be hit by a new stamp duty rate of 5pc on £1m properties and a reduction in pension tax relief from £255,000 to £50,000.

Welfare changes, such as switching to less generous inflation indexing, will cost those on benefits £2.7bn. Including January's VAT rise, everyone is worse off.

The squeeze comes on the back of the first official annual decline in household incomes since 1981 last year."

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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

My thanks to the loyal reader who posted a link to the above video, which shows a recent encounter between the Grande Dame (Lesley Strathie) and the Treasury Select Committee on 16 March 2011.

The Grande Dame was being questioned about the quantity of different phone numbers that HMRC have for contacting them, and the fact that they are 0845.

The Grande Dame failed to give any deadlines for reducing the number of lines, or switching from the more expensive 0845 numbers.

The issue wrt 0845 has been around for a number of years, I commented on it in 2008 and again in 2009. One anonymous commentator at the time noted that the 0845 numbers are free (along with various comments that this site was shite etc:). That being the case why does the Treasury Select Committee say that they are not free, and why did Strathie not correct them?

In the video Strathie states (with a degree of exasperation) that HMRC do not make any money from the 0845 numbers. As I noted in 2009 I have no reason to disbelieve this statement. However, it is possible that Cable and Wireless (who provide the service) offset part of the fees that they charge HMRC with the revenue stream from the 0845 numbers.

That of course is purely speculation on my part, as I have not seen the agreement between C&W and HMRC.

That aside, do watch and enjoy the video; Strathie is absolutely hopeless.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Service Unavailable - LOL!

HMRC have just tweeted the following:

"New tax year approaches! HMRC issues tax returns, tax credit & other forms! Update your address online now http://bit.ly/94I9aI"

Click on the HMRC link in their tweet, and it takes you to a page telling you to update your address via an online form etc.

Fair enough!

Click on the link to the online form, and you get this page!

"Service Unavailable
Sorry, due to planned maintenance the service you have requested is unavailable, please try again later or contact the Online Services Helpdesk.

LOL!

HMRC did warn everyone the other week that their site would be down for maintenance around the tax yer end (2nd -6th April), therefore why on earth tell people during this downtime to update their details online?

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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's Double Standards

Accountancy Age reports that HMRC lost a tribunal, brought against them by Philip and Tracey Ithell (who run a construction firm), because HMRC failed to produce evidence that it sent a computer-generated letter to the appellants.

The appellants claimed that they did not receive a letter from HMRC giving them notice that their gross payment status was being cancelled. HMRC had no evidence that the letter had been sent, other than a screenshot of a note that a letter had been sent.

HMRC lost the case because they could not establish with certainty that the appellants had been given notice of cancellation.

The ruling highlights the double standard (ie hypocrisy) in HMRC's "mindset" wrt letters and postal delays.

Send HMRC a payment (or letter advising them of a material change in tax circumstances) which arrives late or is lost, and HMRC will not accept/listen to evidence wrt the delay/loss.

Yet, in this case (with the boot very much on the other foot), they were attempting to argue that because "they knew" and could "prove" (proof which was not accepted by the tribunal as being sufficient) that they had sent the letter it must have arrived at the intended destination on time.

HMRC can't have it both ways!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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 Disaster Waiting To Happen

David Gauke, the Exchequer secretary, has given an answer to a written parliamentary question that confirms that HMRC will proceed with the Real Time Information scheme for tax payment.

"I expect HMRC to be in a position to pilot the Real Time Information system with employers, pension providers and payroll bureaux from the spring of 2012."

Really?

Real world experience shows that just because a politician gives a fantasy deadline, the actuality is far removed from fantasy.

Regarding Gauke's fantasy project, tax professionals are not convinced that the deadline is realistic or that HMRC are actually up to the job of implementing this system.

HMRC have given guarantees to the DWP that the system will be in place before the October 2013 deadline for Universal Credits.

This is all very well. However, basic trials of the system will not begin until April 2102; more detailed live trials will not start until January 2013.

What happens if the trials throw up faults that take longer than the October 2013 deadline to address?

Capgemini are being paid to pull this rabbit from the hat.

TechEye quote Matthew Brown, Technical Officer at the Chartered Institute of Taxation:

"This is less of a tax decision and more to do with government department's wishes as this is all based around universal credit proposals.

We are certainly concerned that there is not enough time to prepare for such a project, as most projects would need at least 18 months to prepare the software according to developers, while only one year is being given to get it right before live tests begin."

He added:

"It is a tall order and it means that there is absolutely no room for errors in the system."

HMRC are not known for being "error free".

Online tax forms took five years to be thoroughly tested and put in place.

Any bets as to whether this project will come in on time, on budget and error free?

As noted, politicians tend to avoid reality. Sadly for HMRC this project is being driven by politics and David Gauke is a politician/lawyer not a finance/IT professional.

Tax does have to be taxing.
UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.
Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.
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"