HMRC's Secret Service

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted the following comment about HMRC's forthcoming Westminster service:

"As an HMRC (IR) member of 25 years I found this both laughable and disgusting, bad enough EXCON giving themselves £30000 bonuses (I got £130) this year they dream uo this load of s***e!

I have made my views clear via the national Hotseat and would urge all other HMRC staff to do the same.

As for invites, nobody I've spoken to knew anything of this, there is nothing on the HMRC Intranet and no Press Briefing, it is a closed shop jolly for the same old faces."

Homer has seriously shot herself in the foot with this.

A service in a Christian church somewhat excludes those who don't believe in god, or who are not Christians (what happened to HMRC's mantra of a diverse and tolerant organisation?).

Why is the event "secret" within HMRC?

I would appreciate seeing the Hotseat responses from Excom to the queries raised by HMRC staff about this.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Friday Question

Has anyone (be it an HMRC staff member, or taxpayer outwith HMRC) actually received an invitation to the infamous and universally derided Westminster service planned for September?

Does anyone know anyone who has received the invite?

Does anyone have a copy of the guest list?

I ask because, despite Homer's assertions that the service is designed to raise morale of HMRC staff, methinks that the attendees will in fact be mainly the "big knobs" of HMRC and their chums from the civil service.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Is Ridiculous

Follow this link to a splendid summary of a first tier tax tribunal South v HMRC, involving the late submission of individual tax return and whether there was a reasonable excuse for the late submission of the return.

In brief Mr South was not asked to submit a tax return as had been the case in previous years. He rejected HMRC's £100 late submission penalty on those grounds. HMRC then rejected his rejection on the grounds that there was no evidence confirming that he had not received the return.

Think about the "logic" of that for a moment ladies and gentlemen!

It then gets better, subsequently he did get evidence that he did not receive a tax return.

From whom?

From HMRC itself!

In an HMRC letter of 13 May 2014, which stated a paper return was not issued.

The Tribunal noted that a statement provided by HMRC to the Tribunal was inaccurate (a lie or a mistake?).

The Tribunal went on to note that the result of an appeal dated 20 March 2014 was a piece of nonsense, and showed that the appeal was not properly considered by HMRC.

"It is ridiculous to expect the appellant to produce evidence to show he did not receive the tax return or notice to file."

Based on the above can you guess the outcome of the Tribunal?

Yes, that's right, Mr South won and the £100 penalty has been nixed.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Aspire For Chaos

The Times today warns that HMRC's Aspire contract, the country’s biggest IT contract, is heading for disaster under coalition plans to split it into 100 parts, putting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money at risk.

Leading industry specialists have told The Times that splintering the £10 billion Aspire contract, which holds the tax records of 50 million Britons, will end in chaos, with higher costs and a substantial risk to the economy.

Methinks that the Aspire contract is already a lost cause, in terms of cost overruns; will splitting it into smaller parts really make things worse than they already are?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Homer Seeks Divine Intervention

As loyal readers know, HMRC and its CEO Lin Homer have been having something of a rough time of it recently.

Under such circumstances it is natural for people to feel despondent and stressed out. Thus Homer has sought divine help, in the form of a VIP service is to be held at Westminster Abbey on 23 September.

Apparently the service will be a vehicle used to recognise HMRC's work collecting revenue. Guests will include staff, civil servants and partners; they will participate in a service that will pay tribute to HMRC.

Apparently, according to HMRC's way of thinking, the service will boost staff morale!

Disregarding the fact that I personally don't believe in god, I would like to make a number of observations:

• In the event god exists, would he/she really want a religious service for a civil service department?

• I assume that some of the staff invited may not themselves believe in god, how then precisely does this help staff morale?

• Despite the fact that, according to the bible, "we should render unto Caesar what is Caesar's etc" (Mark 12:17) the bible wasn't quite pushing for us to worship tax collecting authorities.

•  Is Homer so desperate (or deluded) that she believes that she is on a holy mission?

• God should be kept out of politics and the civil service (irrespective of the fact that we live in a country where the head of state is also head of the church).

Out of interest, has any loyal reader received an invitation to this event?

If so please could he/she drop me a line?

Thanks.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC's Named and Shamed List

HMRC, to much fanfare, has published another one of its named and shamed lists (this being a list of tax evaders).

HMRC publishes details of deliberate tax defaulters - people who have received penalties either for either:

• deliberate errors in their tax returns
• deliberately failing to comply with their tax obligations

The law that allows this is Section 94 Finance Act 2009.
HMRC may publish information about a deliberate tax defaulter where:

• HMRC has carried out an investigation and the person has been charged one or more penalties for deliberate defaults
• those penalties involve tax of more than £25,000

However, their information will not be published if the person earns the maximum reduction of the penalties by fully disclosing details of the defaults.

HMRC will publish sufficient information to identify the deliberate tax defaulter, the penalties imposed for their deliberate defaults and the amount of tax on which those penalties are based.

HMRC publish this information once these penalties are final. A penalty becomes final on either:

• the day after the end of the appeal period if the person does not make an appeal
• the date when an appeal is finally determined
• the date when a contract settlement is made

The law requires that HMRC do not publish any information about the person for more than 12 months from the date HMRC first publish it.

The current list totals around £30M (not exactly an humongous amount), of which £29.7M is accounted for by one company.

It seems an awful lot of work and fanfare for an amount that, in terms of the total tax take of HMRC, is so trivial.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Cut 41 Jobs In Dundee

PCS are angry with HMRC for cutting 41 jobs in Dundee whilst advertising the same posts elsewhere in the UK.

PCS spokesman John Davidson is quoted by the Courier:

“What’s effectively happening is you have 41 people that are fully trained working in Dundee and they are at threat of redundancy. 

Whilst that’s happening, the department has created vacancies elsewhere for the same work and they’ve advertised some of those vacancies externally. 

It doesn’t seem to make a lot of business sense to us for HMRC to effectively pay off people, put them out of a job and at the same time having to retrain brand new people they are getting in off the street.

Obviously it’s really concerning why they are going down this route. 

They have not given us any adequate explanation as to why that’s the case because it’s exactly the same work that they’re getting rid of out of places like Dundee, whilst they are externally recruiting in places like the Midlands.

That strategy effectively means that there will be only 14 sites in the whole of the UK and only two would be in Scotland. There would be one each in Glasgow and Edinburgh and Dundee doesn’t figure in their long-term plans.”

An HMRC spokesperson said:

“HMRC has 2,420 people on temporary fixed-term appointments and we recently concluded formal consultation with the department’s trades unions on the future of those whose contracts are due to end in September. 

As part of that consultation HMRC has advertised permanent vacancies in a number of locations that only people on fixed-term appointments could apply for.

In Scotland that has meant that more permanent roles were offered than we have people on fixed-term contracts.

Ensuring HMRC’s workforce and estate fits the needs of the business, and that the UK’s tax system is managed cost effectively, are important considerations.

This means that we will recruit at certain sites, expanding on our existing expertise and the infrastructure at these locations for roles that in some instances are specialised or can cover specific shortfalls.”

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Too Incompetent To Be Trusted

In a letter to the Chancellor, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) state that HMRC is too incompetent to be trusted with powers to raid people's bank accounts.

An extract of the letter from Anthony Browne (CEO of BBA) is reproduced in the Telegraph:

“It is clear that HMRC’s performance cannot yet be considered as sufficiently competent to wield an unchecked power this strong, at least not without significant reputational damage and potential litigation.

HMRC would effectively be a judge in its own cause.”

It is a rare occasion indeed when I agree with the BBA. However, in this particular case I am in full agreement with them.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Homer's Catastrophic Mess

The Home Office has been told to pay £224M to Raytheon, a major US corporation it sacked for failing to deliver the secure borders programme.

The order to make the payments comes from a binding arbitration tribunal. Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz called it a "catastrophic result".

The e-Borders programme launched by Labour in 2003 was a £1BN attempt to reform border controls.

In 2007 Raytheon won a nine-year contract for the programme.

Three years later, the coalition government terminated the contract, after claiming it was failing. It said it had lost confidence in Raytheon to deliver the programme after it fell a year behind schedule.

Raytheon threatened to sue ministers for £500M, blaming the UK Border Agency (that name will ring a bell with loyal readers) for the failings, before the two sides entered into binding arbitration to reach a settlement.

The BBC notes that in its ruling, the arbitration tribunal did not pass judgement on whether Raytheon had failed to meet its contractual obligations - but it criticised UKBA officials for failing to properly brief the home secretary on whether the company had an arguable case to hold on to the deal.

The full ruling has not been made public, but the tribunal said the Home Office should make the following payments to Raytheon:

• £50m in damages for ending the contract
• £126m for assets the company delivered prior to being sacked, such as IT systems
• £10m to settle complaints relating to changes to the original contract
• £38m in interest payments

In a letter to the chairman of the cross-party Home Affairs Committee, Home Secretary Theresa May says:

"The government stands by the decision to end the e-Borders contract with Raytheon. This decision was, and remains, the most appropriate action to address the well-documented issues with the delivery and management of the programme.

The situation the government inherited was therefore a mess with no attractive options. All other alternatives available to the government would have led to greater costs than the result of this Tribunal ruling."

Mrs May is writing to the National Audit Office to ask it review how the e-borders scheme was managed from its inception.

Keith Vaz said:

"This is a catastrophic result. Minister after minister and successive heads of the UKBA told the select committee that the government was the innocent party and that Raytheon had failed to deliver.

It is now clear that the UKBA didn't know what they wanted from the e-Borders programme.

It is important that those who have responsibility should be held to account for failing the taxpayer in such a costly way."

Can you tell me children who was in charge of the UKBA and its predecessor during this period?

Yes, that's right Lin Homer!

She was appointed Director-General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in August 2005. The Home Office was re-organised in 2008, with the formation of the Border and Immigration Agency, later renamed the UK Border Agency, of which Homer became the first chief executive until 2011.

It is a sad fact of corporate and civil service life that in order to remove some senior managers who are deemed to be so incompetent and useless that their presence threatens the organisation itself, instead of firing them, they are promoted far far away.

Thus we may expect in the coming months another promotion for Homer, in order that she be removed from HMRC before she completely destroys it and fingers those who were responsible in the first place for putting her in charge of it.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMIC Nail HMRC's Excom Failings and Lies

My thanks to a loyal reader who pointed me to a report published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) which independently assesses police forces and policing across activity from neighbourhood teams to serious crime and the fight against terrorism – in the public interest.

The report was published on 11 June 2014, and is called Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs – recovery of proceeds of crime revisit.

Between September and December 2013, HMIC undertook a revisit to assess how well HMRC had implemented 15 recommendations in the 2011 report into its performance in addressing the recovery of the proceeds of crime from tax evasion and benefit fraud.

The reports makes grim reading for HMRC's directors and management:

"This revisit has found that progress has been slow. HMIC considers that HMRC has failed to adhere to and implement the 2011 report 's recommendations in a way HMIC would have expected.

Although HMRC had developed an action plan, there was a lack of effective governance to ensure that sufficient priority and focus was given to addressing these recommendations.

Contrary to HMRC's March 2013 action plan which stated that all recommendations had been 'closed', HMIC found that only three of the 15 recommendations have been discharged."

Only 3 out of 15 recommendations have been discharged!

Yet HMRC happily lied by claiming in 2013 they had been closed.

May I ask what the fark are Excom doing, and why are their political masters not nailing their heads to coffee tables for this dismal performance?

HMIC twist the knife further:

"Between 2011 and 2013, HMRC had developed two strategic plans to improve criminal finances activity. 

However, neither had brought about any tangible results and by the time of this revisit, neither was being pursued. 

HMIC considers this a missed opportunity, as a robust strategy combined with strong leadership, could have brought about the required action in response to this recommendation."

In other words HMIC do not believe that HMRC has any form of effective leadership.

Why did Homer get a £20K bonus, and why does she think that her performance was "very good"?

Why are HMRC's political masters sitting on their hands doing nothing about HMRC's performance and leadership?

Wake up people it's your taxes that are being wasted here!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

DRD Epetition

My thanks to Mike Truman (Editor of Taxation) for alerting us to a petition against the proposals to allow HMRC to take money from recalcitrant debtors' bank accounts (aka “Direct Recovery of Debt” - DRD).:

"Your readers may be interested to know that Taxation has launched an epetition to get these proposals pulled from the Finance Bill 2015 and have a proper consultation about the problem of deliberate non-payers. 

It's at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/68384 and has picked up well over 600 signatures in just a few days.

Mike Truman
Editor, Taxation magazine"

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Restriction of Non Residents' Personal Allowances

The hard up Treasury is planning more tax raids, this time on British expats who have an income in the UK (eg from renting out property).

Under plans, first mooted by Osborne in the March Budget, expats will be denied the right of the £10K personal allowance.

The rationale for this being that it would bring the UK tax system into line with the US, Canada and much of the EU.

The reality being that the state is broke and is desperate for cash.

The Telegraph notes that at the moment this might affect up to 400,000 people, but not the 1.2M retirees who are counted as UK residents for tax purposes (because they spend half the year in the UK, or because they are only taxable in the country of residence).

However, there will need to be exceptions inserted into any legislation; otherwise former civil servants, NHS workers and council officials living overseas will pay more tax as may British diplomats and missionaries.

A spokesman for the Treasury said:

“The increases the government has made to the personal allowance support hardworking people by helping them to keep more of the money they earn and, as a result, is one of the most generous in the world. 

At the same time, we believe that it is reasonable to consider whether non-residents who receive income from the UK are paying a fair share of tax on that income, in this country.”

The phrase "fair share" has become government mantra for "pay what we decide you should pay".

On the assumption that the expats were "hardworking" when in the UK, and paid a "fair share" when they were here, why should they now lose the allowance that everyone else is entitled to?

The deadline for comments on the consultation is 9 October.


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Death and Taxes - Death Tax Before You Die

There are only two things that are certain in life, death and taxes.

Normally governments are content with people dying first (once they are of no more use to the state), then extracting further "value" from the hapless corpse by taxing the corpse's estate.

However, the British government (because it is broke), has decided that death simply is not coming quickly enough; therefore it wants to extract its death tax before the taxpayer has died.

A brilliant wheeze by anyone's standards, and one that the government's minions in HMRC are keen to employ.

As such, HMRC are mulling proposals whereby it would be granted powers to subject people minimising inheritance tax to “accelerated payment” laws, meaning they would be forced to pay up front if HMRC suspect them of using new schemes to avoid tax.

As with all of our tax laws, the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" has been abandoned in favour of "guilty!".

The new rules will apply to trusts that HMRC believes are being used to avoid tax. However, as with all matters concerning HMRC, there is ample opportunity for HMRC to screw things up or for "mission creep" to occur over time as HMRC seeks to get its hands on ever more money earlier than it should.

When it comes to taxes never trust the words of the politicians, or that intentions of HMRC!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

3 Million Renew Tax Credit Claims

HMRC have stated that approximately 455,000 people have not renewed their tax credit claims, in time for the strike extended deadline, with some now facing payments being cancelled.

Over three million people did renew their claims by the deadline.

Those facing a stoppage in payments should contact HMRC.

Claimants can get help and information on tax credits renewals from gov.uk/browse/benefits/tax-credits and the tax credits helpline at 0345 300 3900.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Declares 420 Staff To Be "Surplus"

My thanks to a loyal reader who sent me the following transcript of an intranet message from William Hague (no, not that one) HMRC's Chief People Officer, concerning 420 HMRC staff who have been "declared surplus".

Apparently, despite now being labelled as "surplus" they can "be proud of their commitment".

May I ask, what is the farking point of showing commitment to an organisation that turns round one day and declares you to be "surplus"?

As Hague says, HMRC will continue to get smaller over time!

"Message from William Hague: reshaping our organisation

6 August 2014

I need to tell you about some significant workforce changes happening in our Department. We've been very open that some roles are ending, because we’re changing where we do our work or the way that we deliver services to customers.

We have done our very best to treat the people affected sensitively and fairly, and wherever possible, we've sought to find them other roles. I can assure you that we’ll continue to do this, but as we get smaller, we know that it’s going to be harder to redeploy everyone.

That’s why, this morning, we met with around 420 colleagues to tell them that they’re being declared surplus and we have invited them to apply for voluntary redundancy. The number includes around 170 people who worked in our Enquiry Centres and around 250 people working in eight offices where we’ve previously announced that lines of business are withdrawing. All these colleagues had already received voluntary exit offers (announced in November and February) and the overwhelming majority are in the redeployment pool.

This week, we've also opened a separate voluntary redundancy scheme for 86 AA-grade ESS Regional Post Room staff in Cardiff and Bootle – something we said we would do in our recent announcement about scanning Personal Tax post.

We’ve looked carefully at all the possible redeployment options for these colleagues, but we’re being up front about the fact that we think their chances of being redeployed are very low.

I’m acutely aware that this will lead to difficult choices for many people – and we’ll be providing one-to-one support to everyone affected. I want to be clear that it’s no reflection on these colleagues or their work. They can rightly be proud of their commitment to our customers and their contribution to the Department.

We’ve said many times that HMRC will continue to get smaller over time, but there will also be new opportunities in areas of work where we still need to expand. Wherever we can, we’ll always try to move people into these if their current role is coming to an end, although the grades and locations where we’re looking to recruit may not always make that possible.

I’d like to briefly update you on some areas where we’re actively recruiting.

Permanent opportunities for FTAs
As you know, we’re keen to provide as many opportunities as possible for FTAs to stay with us if they want to. That’s why, in June and July, we advertised a number of permanent vacancies that only FTAs could apply for. We’re now working through those applications and will let people know the outcome by 21 August.

External recruitment
Based on the applications we’ve received from FTAs, we think we’ll still have some vacancies left in Debt Management and Banking in Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Livingston. So we’re going to advertise for AO roles in these locations on 7 August.

We also think there might be a shortfall of applicants in other business areas and locations, but we won't know that until we’ve completed the FTA allocations. If we need to go ahead with further adverts, it's likely we’ll do so on 20 August.

As always, we won’t bring new recruits into a location until we’ve considered people already working in HMRC. Priority movers, AOs in the redeployment pool, and AAs in the promotion pool with a first, second or third-choice preference for those locations will be considered ahead of any external appointments.

And, even though we’re recruiting externally, these opportunities will remain available to FTAs up until their contracts end in September. If you’re interested and eligible to apply, please keep a look out for these opportunities on Civil Service Jobs.

I will of course keep you fully updated on everything we’ve announced today, as and when we have more news.

William Hague
Chief People Officer"

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

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What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

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To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC's Sparkling Digital Future

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

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

Gauke said: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hey Hoh!

The future is firmly in front of us!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tax Advice For Pensioners? - Sod Off!

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

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

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

The whole affair has caused her untold stress.

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

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

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

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

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

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

DRD Unconstitutional

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

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

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


”.

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

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

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

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


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC's 94% Error Rate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HMRC still routinely rejects applications for ESC A19. 

If this happens, you need to fight your case.

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

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

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

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

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Home Visits Query

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

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

-  How does this work in practice?

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

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

Thanks.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Homer Admits She Gets Paid a Lot

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

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

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

"Lin Homer Bonus

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

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

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

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

Answer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All happy with that response then?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"