God Loves a Cheerful Giver

As per Leslie Ferrar, HMRC’s non-executive director, as quoted in the Telegraph:

"God loves a cheerful giver."

Given that not everyone believes in God, and that even if God existed his/her interest in tax would be close to zero; it is hardly surprising that despite the disgrace of the Westminster Service (now renamed Westminster Secret service, as HMRC is too ashamed to discuss it with its staff) Osborne is attempting to create legislation that will force Google etc to pay some tax.

Let's see how that works then, will God give him divine guidance on drafting the perfect piece of legislation?

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 Can Now Collect £17K of Tax Debts Directly From Pay Packets

Courtesy of a measure announced in the 2013 Budget, and enacted via secondary legislation, HMRC will as from this week be able to collect up to £17,000 a year of tax debts directly from high earners’ pay packets (the current limit is £3,000).

Tim Stovold, a partner of Kingston Smith, is quoted by the FT:

“This change has had much less focus than the harshly criticised rules for the direct recovery of debts from bank accounts. If HMRC is denied that ability they are more likely to use these new powers to collect the money from salaries instead.”

Apparently, according to HMRC:

“Taxpayers welcome the option to have tax debt collected by instalment. This is a very longstanding feature of the payroll system but the increase in the current threshold will allow more tax debts to be paid in this way.”

Let's see how this goes 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"

Don't Bother Looking At The Dashboard!

Despite the ongoing spin from HMRC that RTI is working well, reality it seems is not as rosy as the spin.

A quote attributed to an HMRC call centre employee sums up the situation in a nutshell:

"Oh don't bother looking at the dashboard, all the postings are wrong on there."

As per AccountingWEB:

"AccountingWEB member Kenny Achampong challenged this optimistic view: 

“Whenever I speak to them they tell me they can't give me clients’ PAYE income details either on the phone or by post as there is an issue with the details supplied by the employer. I try to find out what exactly the problem is and it’s normally not having the correct year end info reconciled, but have also been told they cannot give any details out as the information they have is just too unreliable now.”

Michael Harle offered a classic good news/bad news summary of the situation: “I agree this delay is of benefit to clients and accountants alike. I do fear the real reason is that HMRC finally worked out how many penalties they would have to issue, and then deal with, next month and realised they are hopelessly under resourced to cope with this.”

These observations are typical for many AccountingWEB members, who are having to wrestle with RTI’s technical and procedural details. But because of the direct link to the universal credit and welfare reform, those closely involved with the project highlight the top-level political significance of the issue. With universal credit now stalled, it’s difficult to tell what the operating parameters for RTI are supposed to be and which way HMRC and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) are likely to turn next."

The fact is that so much political capital has been invested in Universal Credit/RTI that it cannot be allowed to be seen to fail, even if it is failing!

The people who will bear the cost of the failure are both HMRC staff, who have to work around the problems, and the hapless taxpayers who have to waste time and money proving that their figures (not HMRC's) are correct.


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"

The Westminster Service

Royal Charter being brought in by the Beadle

Despite all the ridicule and scorn heaped upon HMRC for its decision to hold a service in Westminster Abbey on 23 September, praising HMRC, the service went ahead.

The "great and the good" of HMRC read prayers to "give thanks for the pooling of resources and their effect in the security of the realm, in the education and health of the people, in the provision of relief, and in the promotion of prosperity."

"We honour the manner and means by which taxes are collected."

Pass the sick bag someone!

As per the Westminster Abbey site

23 Sep 2014

A Service to Celebrate the Work of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs was held at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 23rd September 2014 at Noon.

The service was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, who said in his Bidding: 'The neighbours of Westminster Abbey around Parliament Square are the Palace of Westminster, the Supreme Court, and, beside Her Majesty's Treasury, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. It is a pleasure to welcome our neighbours to the Abbey.

'We gather to worship God and to celebrate collaboration. Our focus is not on political decisions about the proportion of people's income and expenditure deployed by Her Majesty's Government. Rather, we give thanks for the pooling of resources and their effect in the security of the realm, in the education and health of the people, in the provision of relief, and in the promotion of prosperity.

'As we recall the origins of HMRC and its current formation, we shall pray for all who are employed in public service, we shall give thanks for the goods provided by the funds raised, and we shall ask the blessing of almighty God on all that is done for the good of the people.'

Judy Clements OBE, Adjudicator, the Valuation Office Agency and the Insolvency Service, read Deuteronomy 8: 7-18 and Leslie Ferrar CVO, Non-Executive Director HMRC, read 2 Corinthians 9: 6-12.

Kay Markham, Needs Enhanced Support Adviser, Personal Tax; and Paul Brown, Director of Marketing and Communications, The Prince's Trust, gave Testimonials.

The Address was given by the Dean.

During the service the Royal Charter was borne through the Abbey church by Officers led by Pat Duffy, Beadle, HMRC.

Prayers were led by The Reverend Christopher Stoltz, Minor Canon and Sacrist of Westminster, and said by: Dorothy Brown, Director, Personal Tax Operations; Colin Ford, Acting Deputy Director, Business Customer and Strategy; The Reverend David Stanton, Canon in Residence; Michael Howe, Director Business Tax Operations; William Hague, Chief People Officer; and Lin Homer CB, Chief Executive.

The service was sung by the Westminster Abbey Special Service Choir conducted by Daniel Cook, Sub-Organist. The organ was played by Martin Ford, Assistant Organist, and before the service by Jeremy Woodside, Organ Scholar.

Here is a link to the Order of Service.

Here is a link to the Sermon.

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"

Another Fine Mess - Fine HMRC For Its Mistakes

Tony Margaritelli, Chair of ICPA (Independent Certified Practising Accountants), clearly exasperated at the number of erroneous penalty letters (12,000)  he has received from HMRC wrt his firm's clients has called for HMRC to pay a fine everytime it makes a mistake.

A lovely idea but sadly, in this universe, one that will never come to fruition.

Here is the text of his letter in full as published on AccountingWeb:

"Over the years, the imposition of fines for virtually every conceivable civic misdemeanour has become the norm. And as fines are introduced for previously ‘fine-free’ indiscretions they are, without fail, promoted with the line that “the fine is not about revenue gathering, it’s about changing actions”, or “the fine is being levied in the hope that the perpetrator will re-think their actions and change their ways”. So we have fines for taking children out of school in term time, fines for littering and fines for noise pollution – and every time it’s been about getting people to change their ways rather than generating revenue.

HMRC has been at the forefront of the ‘fines’ culture, which they fully support, and whenever anything changes – such as the introduction of RTI or iXBRL – details of the fines for errors or inaction follow hard on the heels of the initial announcement.

HMRC has promoted the principle that fines and penalties for failures on the part of the taxpayer are an acceptable deterrent. The result has been that for every failure on the part of the taxpayer to meet a deadline a penalty is imposed; every failure on behalf of the taxpayer to handle their affairs in a manner that is acceptable to HMRC results in a fine.

As accountants, our clients are being penalised and it is natural that they look to us for advice and help in what is perceived to be a thinly veiled attempt to close the tax gap. Our advice is, correctly, that appeals cost time and money and there is no guarantee of ultimate success. The usual result is that as accountants we suffer – we have to bear the brunt of the client’s anguish and ire. Thus the anger against such HMRC impositions grows not only in those directly penalised but also from their advisors.

One can only imagine the time spent by the client and the accountant over such issues, while HMRC simply accumulates income and urges compliance borne of better working practices.

Yet when the boot is on the other foot what happens? If HMRC is tardy in making repayments, issues coding numbers that are manifestly inaccurate or issue penalty notices when nothing is amiss are they subject to a fine? No!

Recently, we had to suffer over 12,000 – yes, that’s the correct figure – interim penalty letters for 2013/14 that were wrong. Were these letters checked before they were sent out? Was it a computer problem? Who knows. Frankly, HMRC gets it wrong for over 12,000 fully compliant taxpayers and what do they do? Well, naturally they apologise. Do they send the apology to the taxpayers concerned? No, they simply state that “HMRC is sorry for any inconvenience and concern caused” in the ‘What’s new’ section on its website. This is not the first error of this type but the question, surely, is will it be the last? Probably not, but would the likelihood of such an error reduce if HMRC was forced to pay each and every taxpayer sent the letter a £100 fine? If you follow the logic then the answer should be yes. If fines and penalties have resulted in better taxpayer behaviour, why does the same principle not apply to HMRC?

Next time your client gets a fine, try apologising – and see what happens."

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"

Every Little Helps

My thanks to a loyal reader who pointed out a connection between Tesco (the company that has overstated its profit forecast by at least £250M) and HMRC.

What is that connection?

Sir Richard Broadbent, who is currently Chairman of Tesco (and is currently refusing to resign, despite intense pressure to do so).

Broadbent was Executive Chairman of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise between February 2000 and July 2003. During this time, he was responsible for a programme of change management in tax and law enforcement.

My loyal reader notes the following:

"I'm a little bit surprised that you haven't picked up on the connection between HMRC and the scandal of Tesco overstating their profits by £250 million. 

HMRC uses a concept known as *Future Revenue Benefit to grossly inflate the yield figures it reports from compliance work. 

Is it a coincidence that Sir Richard Broadbent was chairman of HMC&E when this concept was introduced and he is now chairman of Tesco? 

Somehow, I think not." 

How "ironic"!

* Future Revenue Benefit

Future Revenue Benefit (FRB) is the estimated monetary amount that will accrue to the Department as a direct result of our compliance activities.

The overriding principle for claiming FRB is that it should be only recorded when you believe there will be a future impact on departmental revenues. The key to whether future revenue benefit can be claimed and to what degree, for example, the number of years, will depend on the behaviour that gave rise to the error and the action HMRC are taking to address it. Additionally, FRB is only applicable if the business is likely to continue trading and tax or other duties still remains.

(This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

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"

Star Wars - The Attack of The Hypocrites

Disney has been given a £8M tax break by HMRC to make the next Star Wars film in Britain (Star Wars: Episode VII). The tax break is as a result of the tax credit scheme, which entitles films with costs of more than £20M to claim back up to 20% of production costs.

How ironic that dog whistle politicans have been bleating about the "evils" of tax avoidance schemes relating to investments in films!

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"

Mike Potter - The Perfect Fit For HMRC

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted the following about Mike Potter (HMRC's new Digital Transformation Director):

"This would not be the same Mike Potter who was programmes and projects director at the Rural Payments Agency from 2007 to 2009.

Readers may be interested to know that in his time there the Agency was involved in a Farm payment fiasco could cost the taxpayer £620 million

Farm Payment

Under his watch the IT department also apparently managed to lose CDs and tapes containing the personal information of around 100, 000 farmers including bank details, addresses and security passwords

Lost Records

Should fit in perfectly with Homer's term of all the talents."

It does indeed seem that Potter will fit right in!

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"

Mike Potter Joins HMRC

Mike Potter, NHS Blood and Transplant Business Transformation Director, will be joining HMRC in November this year as digital transformation director.
 
Potter's responsibilities will include developing HMRC's digital strategy and leading HMRC's new Newcastle-based Digital Centre opened eight weeks ago.

In all, Potter's responsibilities will cover:

• HMRC's Digital Strategy
• Development of a multi-channel Digital Tax Platform that will host HMRC's digital offerings
• HMRC's current suite of digital services
• Two digital centres in London and Newcastle, where the new services are being built

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"

Dundee Strike Off!

HMRC, in a volte farce, has reversed its decision to axe 38 jobs in the HMRC Dundee contact centre.

As such the strike action, that was to have commenced this week, has been stopped.

The Courier reports that a last-minute offer by HMRC saw the union call off the strike at 11am.

PCS branch chair Tam Dolan described it as “a major victory for the union and the staff concerned.”

Why then did HMRC back down on this, could it be to do with the referendum or something else?

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"

Contact Centres Survey Report

HMRC have recently published "HMRC Contact Centres Survey Report2013-2014", wherein out of the 4,225 individuals, 77 agents and 118 business callers surveyed 73% of business customers gave positive responses about their experiences, down from 87% over for the previous 2012-2013 period.

Callers who had to speak to HMRC advisers more than once were also asked for detailed reasons for this:

- 36% indicated this was because HMRC had made a mistake;
- 38% said this was due to HMRC not calling back or them not hearing back from HMRC;

Most respondents only had to call once to get through to an adviser (69%) and the call waiting time was on average 4 minutes (median), although (35%) reported waiting less than 3 minutes and (35%) reported waiting more than 10 minutes.

The most common suggestions respondents spontaneously gave for improvements were:

•  Improve the time taken to get through to an adviser (32%)
•  Have better trained / more knowledgeable staff (14%)
•  Remove the automated messages at the start of calls (10%)

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 Cloudy Outlook

I am indebted to loyal readers who have commented on my recent Digital Revolution article, noting that HMRC's Outlook has been down for three days and there are problems when trying to log into HMRC's cloud based storage system. Additionally, there appear to be issues with regard to the internal mail system.

Seemingly Mark Dearnley has his team working day and night, but they still don't know how to fix it.

I would be grateful for more details as this progresses.

issues logging

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"

Dundee Strike

In the days leading up to the Scottish referendum, HMRC staff at the Dundee contact centre will strike over the threat of job losses.

STV reports that members of the public and commercial services union (PCS) have voted by 183 to seven to take industrial action.

The action will include a series of walkouts next week, commencing with a two-hour walkout on Monday September 15 at 12pm. This is to be followed by daily half hour walkouts for the remainder of the week.

The contact centre, located in the Dundee Technology Park, primarily takes calls on the HMRC tax credits helpline, where recently there have been examples of 300 calls waiting at times.

HMRC are seeking to make redundant 38 members of staff, employed on fixed term contracts.

The ball game will change somewhat if Scotland becomes independent.

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 Digital Revolution

Ian Barlow (NED of HMRC) has written a guest column for City A.M. in which he talks about HMRC's digital revolution. The article is an abridged version of a piece he has written for Reform.

Here is his article as published on City A.M.:

"JUST like innovative private sector organisations, the government, as a provider of services to the nation’s citizens, needs to reflect and respond to the changing demands of those it serves.

This is especially relevant to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which must provide effective, efficient and impartial services to its 41m individual and 5m business customers, and keep pace with both consumer expectations of good service and government expectations of efficiency in revenue collection.

For much of the nine years since the merger that created HMRC, the Department has focused relentlessly on maximising tax revenues and sustainably reducing its costs. Last year, for the first time, it collected more than £500bn in tax revenues – including £23.9bn in additional compliance revenues – while reducing its costs by £235m. It has also shrunk its workforce and estate from 97,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees in 560 offices in 2005 to fewer than 60,000 FTE employees in 190 offices today.

The results have been encouraging. Customer service during this period focused on performance targets for answering phone calls and turning around post. Last year, HMRC delivered its best-ever results on these measures, answering 79 per cent of all calls and dealing with 83 per cent of post within 15 working days.

These productivity, revenue and service gains have been achieved largely through continuous improvement. But incremental gains only take you so far: transformation involves making step-changes at important times. HMRC is making one of these step-changes now – and its reform ambitions have relevance across government.

There are three key enablers of the HMRC step-change: enhancing digital services and making digital the channel of choice for customers; harnessing the potential of data; and developing HMRC’s workforce with the new skills the Department needs for this digital and data future.

By making better use of the data it holds, HMRC’s ambition is to personalise its services according to customer behaviours and needs, so they feel like HMRC really knows them. HMRC will also bring everything together in one place, so that customers, whether individuals or businesses and other organisations, can interact with it once and be done, rather than multiple times with multiple people.

Ultimately, every taxpayer will have their own personal account, where they can transact securely with HMRC, having the freedom and taking the responsibility for filing, making amendments as their circumstances change and, of course, paying their taxes.

There will still be a multi-channel approach, with telephone back-up for those who can’t interact online, and personal contact, even home visits, for those who need extra help. But the vast majority will prefer to transact online, saving money and time for both taxpayer and HMRC.

Effective use of data will not only ensure easier transactions by compliant taxpayers. It will also improve voluntary compliance, such as by automating and checking calculations to prevent inadvertent error. This will free up HMRC’s tax compliance professionals to focus their energies on the small minority who are really trying to cheat the system.

What will it take to achieve these ambitions? None of this will be achieved without investment by HMRC in its people and the changing skills they will need in the future. This will be a smaller, but more nimble and professionalised organisation, with far fewer manual, paper-based processes, and a need for more judgement in dealing with customers’ needs.

It can be readily seen how much of HMRC’s agenda is relevant across government, and how working together with other departments, particularly with those that deal directly with individuals and businesses, could drive further efficiency gains and improve ease of access for citizens. Data sharing is another area for further examination, although, from HMRC’s perspective, its commitment to the confidentiality of taxpayer details is crucial to its effectiveness as the nation’s tax collector.

The focus of Civil Service reform, in the end, is on the citizen, because that is who the government and Civil Service ultimately exist to serve – in the most efficient and effective way they can. The transformation that HMRC is undertaking is clear evidence that the Civil Service does have the right focus, the right vision, and the right leadership and capability to reinvent itself to apply the principles it has established over centuries to the expectations and needs of the modern age."

I find it truly depressing that, for example, a 79% call answering rate seems to be something that he (as a director of HMRC) is proud of:

"Last year, HMRC delivered its best-ever results on these measures, answering 79 per cent of all calls and dealing with 83 per cent of post within 15 working days."

Like it or not, taxpayers will be pushed down the digital route when it comes to interacting with HMRC.

Whilst the vision of the digital future is very positive, the reality will be dependent on the quality of the systems developed and implemented in HMRC.

The question stands: is HMRC capable of implementing a successful digital revolution?

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 Delays SME Late Filing Penalties

In theory, as from 6 October, HMRC were to have introduced late RTI filing penalties for PAYE for all companies.

However, the great laid plans of mice, men and HMRC are prone to fall apart. As such, it should come as no surprise top learn that the late filing penalty regime for businesses with less than 50 employees has been delayed until 6 March 2015.

HMRC have put a gloss on this, by saying that it will ensure a "smooth transition" etc.

"Employers with fewer than 50 employees will face automated in-year penalties for late real-time PAYE returns from 6 March next year. 

Those who employ 50 or more people will face penalties from 6 October 2014. 

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will send electronic messages to all employers shortly to let them know when the penalties will apply to them, based on the number of employees shown in the department’s records. 

Ruth Owen, HMRC Director-General for Personal Tax, said:

”Real Time Information is working well. Our most recent figures show that over 95% of PAYE schemes making payments to individuals are successfully reporting in real time, and 70% say that it is easy to do.

“We know from our experience of rolling out of RTI that to ensure a smooth transition for our customers it’s best to introduce changes in stages. This will allow us to update our systems and enhance our guidance and customer support as needed. We know that those who have had most difficulty adjusting to real-time reporting have been small businesses, so this staged approach means they have a little more time to comply with the new arrangements before facing a penalty. 

“We believe this is the best approach for HMRC and our customers, as we all get used to the new in-year penalties.” 

Where employers believe they have a reasonable excuse for sending a return late, they will be able to appeal using HMRC’s new, online appeals process for automated penalties. This should speed up the appeal process for businesses and HMRC. 

In the run up to March 2015, HMRC will examine other ways to encourage employers to comply with the rules, in addition to financial penalties."

The reality is that this is the third delay. As Elaine Clark says, this is great news for SME's.

However, what the fark is really going on in the HMRC bunker?

Smells of cock up to me!


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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Scottish Independence - Whither HMRC?

With nine days until the vote on Scottish independence, it looks as though it will be a very close run thing indeed.

I would very much like to hear from loyal readers their take on what will happen to HMRC, both North and South of the border, in the event that Scotland votes "yes".

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"

Wakey Wakey!

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted the following comment, which speaks for itself:

""All gone quiet over there..."

What has happened to the apparent 'fizz' created when the news seeped out?

Also, as previously intimated, has Homer crossed equal opportunity guidance with using a house of God for the backslapping attaboy event to the exclusion of other faiths and minority groups of workers?

The irony of the situation is bordering on farcical given the continuing poor performance and lack of engagement by HMRC, but the sheeple are unsighted as per norm."

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 Scattergun Approach To Tax Collection

The child benefit clusterfuck created by Osborne has, as expected, caused a mass of confusion and extra costs.

HMRC has been berated by UHY Hacker Young for sending out "incorrect" letters to higher rate taxpayers it suspects have not repaid their child benefit payments.

HMRC has sent out 30,000 letters, in a scattergun approach, to parents who it claims failed to account for the child benefit charge when they completed last year’s self-assessment tax return.

UHY Hacker Young says that this has caused "widespread confusion", as HMRC appears to have failed to check whether the payment has already been paid by an individual’s partner before sending out the letters.

Mike Crellin, a tax director at UHY Hacker Young, is quoted by the Telegraph:

"We have had lots of queries about these letters from concerned taxpayers, who thought they had their affairs in order but are now worried that they have made an expensive mistake.

In most cases, they have in fact completed the return and paid their tax perfectly correctly.

HMRC has gone to the lengths of checking the child benefit database, but it hasn’t joined the dots by working out who in the household is supposed to be paying the additional charge and whether or not it has been paid. It is putting the burden of doing that checking on the tax payer, and the scattergun approach is certainly causing a lot of unnecessary worry in the process."

A spokesman for HMRC said those who have paid the charge should disregard the letter. He said:

"These letters are simply designed to help taxpayers get their returns right by reminding customers who file under self assessment of the importance of including the high income child benefit charge on their tax return." 

Scattergun approaches may be all very well, if you are an internet spammer or cold caller selling a PPI reclaim service. However, HMRC should be above such nonsense.

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 Pays Better Than Treasury

Giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday, Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the most senior civil servant at the Treasury, said that better pay being offered by the Bank of England and HMRC made it hard to prevent talented junior staff in the Treasury from jumping ship.

He is quoted by the Independent:

“In the last year we’ve lost twelve people to the Bank of England.

It’s slightly frustrating that the Bank of England’s a nationalised industry... but these guys just pay a lot more than us.

It’s frustrating for us to be some sort of feeder second division Belgian football team which provides really good people for Premier League teams like Chelsea and Manchester United.” 

Moving on to HMRC he said:

“We have a lot of staff in their late twenties who will go and get a job at HMRC because they can get £10,000 more a year.” 

Only 13% of Treasury employees felt they were receiving reasonable pay compared to people doing a similar job in other organisations. The comparable figure at HMRC was 23%.

So there you go, it seems that HMRC outranks the Treasury in terms of pay.

Drinks all round!

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 New NED's Lack Tax Experience

HMRC have appointed two new Non Executive Directors to the board, neither of whom have any specific experience in tax or finance.

Mervyn Walker and Simon Ricketts have joined the HMRC Board as successors to Philippa Hird and Norman Pickavance, who recently left their roles.

Both appointees bring a wide range of senior management experience to the Board, which is tasked with helping HMRC to deliver its agenda and maximise its performance.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said:

“These appointments provide a rich mix of Board-level experience in major corporations. They will bring new and further capability and credible challenge to Board discussions.”

Ian Barlow, HMRC Lead Non-Executive Director, said:

“I am delighted with these appointments. Simon Ricketts and Mervyn Walker both have vast experience to help HMRC face the challenges of the future. HMRC’s Chief Executive, Lin Homer, and I would also like to thank Philippa Hird and Norman Pickavance for their valuable contributions.”

Simon and Mervyn will take up their roles as Board members on 1 September. Philippa Hird retired from the Board after serving for five and a half years, and Norman Pickavance stepped down to take up an executive role with a private company.

Notes to Editors

1. Simon Ricketts is Chief Information Officer of Rolls Royce PLC, a position he has held since 2010, where he is accountable for IT and business process transformation. He has extensive experience of leading large and complex cross-functional transformation programmes, in particular IT, manufacturing, logistics and customer service. He has also held senior roles at Scottish and Newcastle PLC, Cadbury Schweppes and British Steel. His broad experience as a Non-Executive Director most recently involved seven years on the main Board and Audit Committees at the National Savings and Investment Bank.
2. Mervyn Walker has broad experience in a range of roles in large customer service and industrial companies. He has been Group Human Resources Director at three FTSE-listed companies – British Airways, Mondi and, most recently, Anglo American. He also has extensive experience of organisational transformation in large and complex organisations. A lawyer by background, Mervyn now holds a portfolio of non-executive roles.
3. HMRC’s Board brings together six members of the department’s Executive Committee and six Non-Executive Directors, who bring an external perspective to the Board’s advice.
4. More information on the HMRC Board, including its recruitment processes, can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/groups/hmrc-board

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 £5.6BN Planned Smash and Grab

Despite the silky smooth assurances of Gauke and HMRC that the plans for DRD would only affect recalcitrant tax debtors, it seems that (as noted yesterday) there is more than a wee bit of mission creep built into the plans for DRD.

The Independent reports that the debt owed to government (the taxpayer), after more than a decade of overpaying tax credits, has now reached more than £5.6BN.

HMRC plans to seize money from around 3,000 people's bank accounts a year for overpaid tax credits, according to figures released by HMRC, in response to a Freedom of Information request by the campaign group False Economy.

Now loyal readers will recall that when DRD was first mooted, Lin Homer stated that the amount that HMRC would raise over four years would be in total around £375M.

Either she is lying, or the DRD scheme is but pissing in the wind against a debt of over £5.6BN.

Which is it, is Homer lying or is HMRC pissing in the wind?

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 Mission Creep

And so it begins!

HMRC powers to recoup unpaid #tax directly from accounts could also be used to recover money from people paid too much in tax credits.
— The Morning Account (@MorningAccount) September 1, 2014

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"