HMRC Trebles Fines For "Deliberate" Errors

Baker Tilly has identified that HMRC has trebled the number of penalties issued for ‘deliberate’ as opposed to ‘careless’ mistakes on self-assessment returns.

The number of penalties imposed for ‘deliberate’ rather than ‘careless’ inaccuracies in tax returns has risen to 14,401 (up from 5,162 in 2012-13).

Mike Down, Baker Tilly’s head of tax investigations, is quoted by Contractor UK:

"The taxman is getting much tougher on people who are under-declaring their income in their tax returns.”

Thus creating a nice little earner for the government.

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 Email Mistaken For Scam

An email from HMRC, that is actually genuine, has caused confusion as it has been mistaken by some as being a scam.

The email about the new marriage allowance (signed by Ruth Owen, HMRC’s director general for personal tax) is supposed to help people claim the allowance.

It warned that taxpayers would need to have personal details ­confirmed, and that this may have to be done with a credit card or ­mortgage details.

However, because there are numerous fake emails purporting to be from HMRC, and because this email mentioned credit cards many people simply assumed that it was a scam.


Colin Willetts is quoted by This Is Money:

"The suggestion I’d need a photo ID and details of recent credit card and mortgage payments rang oddly, as my wife and I have neither — we’re both pensioners."

David Lawson, from Northampton, deleted it instantly:

‘The way it looked, with a picture of wedding rings, and its language talking of credit card details and even a photo ID really made it feel like a fake or phishing email."

It has been possible to register for the new allowance since February online. However, a helpline will also be launched later this year.

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"

Sorry You're Not Dead

Commiserations to Peter Moore, 47, who received a particularly puzzling letter from HMRC last week in which he was told that he was dead.

The letter was addressed to the "representative" of Peter William John Moore and apologised for the family's "recent bereavement". After offering sympathies "during this difficult time", HMRC then went on to demand unpaid tax.


A spokesman for HMRC is quoted by the Mirror:

"We don't talk about individual cases but when we make mistakes we aim to put them right fast and apologise."

The question remains, who has actually died and has his tax records muddled by HMRC with the living?

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"

Hanging on The Telephone

Oh c'mon @HMRCgovuk I have now been waiting for 26 mins 30 secs for you to answer phone....

— John Andrews (@jmalitrg) April 27, 2015

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 Takes 54 Minutes To Answer The Phone

HMRC’s call handling rate has taken a turn for the worse, 37.9 % of calls were answered within its five minute target between July and September last year, compared with 42.4% during the same period in 2013.

The Sunday Mirror was told by insider that HMRC is in “meltdown” as it struggles to cope with a spike in phone calls and a huge backlog of unopened post; none of this will be a surprise to loyal readers.

However, to test response times the Sunday Mirror made 20 calls to HMRC's key helplines at various times throughout the day to see how long it took them to answer.

One call to its self assessment tax line took 54 minutes and 34 seconds to be answered. A second to the same helpline was cut off after five minutes and 51 seconds.

Another call to HMRC’s tax credit helpline was finally answered after 45 minutes and 40 seconds while the helpline handling self-employment income tax inquiries took 35 minutes and eight seconds.

As noted, none of this will come as a surprise to loyal readers.

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 Debt Collection Spend Halves

Insolvency News reports that HMRC has halved its spend on debt collection agencies (DCAs) during the past year, with £6.8m spent on them in 2014 compared to £14.8m in 2013.

Does this mean that there are less debts to chase, or that HMRC are taking some of the debt collection work back in house?

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 System Approaching Chaos

Chaos is now the operative word for our dysfunctional tax system.


The Institute for Fiscal Studies has looked at the system, and notes that there are certain areas where a person can theoretically pay 60%, 70% or even 100% tax.


Paul Johnson, who undertook the research, quoted in the Telegraph argues that our tax regime lacks coherence to a degree “approaching chaos”.

How do these huge marginal rates of tax arise?

It’s because special tax benefits and allowances have been introduced over the years. And then they have been withdrawn again under subsequent means-testing.

Jason Piper of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, explained the phenomenon in relation to child benefit.

“The child benefit you get is entirely 'taxed away’ if you earn over £60,000, but all yours if you earn under £50,000. Between those two levels of income you suffer a charge equal to 100pc of your child benefit.”

What ever happened to simplification?


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"

VAT MOSS Chaos

As I noted the other day, Monday was VAT MOSS Day.

Unsurprisingly, such an occasion could not occur without there being a degree of chaos.

Economia reports that Enterprise Nation has noted that HMRC vastly underestimated the number of small businesses affected by new EU rules on VAT.

This has caused “chaos” and could lead to a hike in costs for digital services.

HMRC estimated that there were just 5,000 non-VAT registered firms that would be likely to be affected by the new VAT MOSS rules, which concern the trading of digital products in the EU. The new rules, require all companies, including those exempt from UK VAT, to charge VAT on all digital products such as ebooks, at the rate charged in the customer’s country.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills however estimated that there were 350,000 working within the affected space.

Oddly though, HMRC is standing by its initial estimate.

Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation’s founder said:

“The EU VAT regulations caused havoc in the digital small business community. If details of the new charges and reporting responsibilities had been communicated earlier, we’re sure there could not only have been more opportunity to make amendments to the bill, but that an entrepreneurial solution to the problem could have been developed. 

As it was, not even the marketplaces themselves had prepared new software or worked out the finances."

None of this should come as any surprise, I warned in December that VAT MOSS would lead to massive confusion.

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"

Happy 10th Birthday HMRC!

My thanks to a loyal reader who sent me this message from Lin Homer to HMRC staff about HMRC's 10th birthday:

"Dear Colleague

On Saturday, HMRC turned 10 years old.

I’m proud to lead this great organisation, proud of what we’ve achieved over the last decade and proud of the journey on which we’ve embarked with Building our Future.

I’m also very aware of the thousand years of history that underpins HMRC today, and of the great contributions made by our predecessor organisations.

Since HMRC was formed, we’ve achieved a great deal together – thank you. We’re on track to bring in a record £510 billion revenues this year, we’ve continued to improve service to our customers and we’ve delivered some major projects, such as real time information, that have really improved the UK’s tax system. This has paved the way for the creation of digital tax accounts that will transform the way that people manage and pay their taxes.

But there’s much still to do – we know we’re not consistently providing the right levels of customer service and after the General Election the demands on us will increase further. We’ll need to be even more radical to meet the changing and increasing expectations of customers, Government, the media and other stakeholders. Building our Future explains how we’re going to do this.

Of course, the history of tax over the last thousand years, and in the last ten, has been one of continual change and evolution; our 10th birthday gives us a chance to recognise our past achievements as well as looking to the future.

So, happy birthday HMRC! I meant what I said at the Public Accounts Committee, that there are no better people than the folk in HMRC. Whether it’s helping customers, colleagues or the communities we serve, it’s your contribution that makes the difference. Thank you to you and to all the great people working here who make me feel so privileged to lead such a strong team.

Best wishes

Lin Homer"

A belated happy birthday 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"

Happy #VATMOSS Day!

Just filed my first #VATMOSS return with @HMRCgovuk - cost me GBP700+ in software and accounting to calculate that I owed 18.74
— Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) April 14, 2015

Remember - #VATMOSS filing deadline is today https://t.co/gdKqoiLcQs

— Rachael Power (@rachpower10) April 20, 2015

Five less well known requirements of the #VATMOSS return http://t.co/qNGaaTovM8 via @AccountingWEBuk pic.twitter.com/yqsLYUxHGc

— taxamo (@taxamo) April 2, 2015

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 Phone Lines Swamped

Unsurprisingly the recent changes in pension rules and the possibility of an HMRC emergency levy on withdrawals has caused a stampede to HMRC's phone lines.

As many as one million people are believed to have called HMRC last Wednesday week, leaving the lines engaged throughout the day.

The Telegraph reports that people who telephoned were forced to spend 10 minutes navigating the options menus before being cut off because the waiting time was deemed "too long".

Instead a recorded voice advised savers who were worried about the tax implications of withdrawing their pensions to call Pension Wise, the Government's new general information service.That is fair enough, if the calls were about pension advice. However, if the calls related to the tax implications of a pension withdrawal then that is another matter.

That being said, HMRC were of the view the calls were simply down to the new tax year. A spokesman for HMRC said its phone lines were "very busy" because it was the start of a new tax year.

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 Loses £75M on Phones4U

The FT reports that approximatley £170m owed to unsecured creditors in collapsed mobile phone retailer Phones4U will be almost entirely wiped out.

Unsecured creditors to the retail chain are owed about £168m but are only likely to receive 0.4p for every pound, PwC said. These include HMRC, which is owed about £75m in VAT and corporation tax.

However, creditors who own Phones4U’s £430m worth of senior secured notes, which are listed on the Irish stock exchange, “may recover” 20 per cent to 24 per cent of their money, as their debt ranks higher up the legal ladder for repayment priority in an insolvency.

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"

RTI Problems

A loyal reader has sent me a note asking for help wrt RTI.

"I have just found your website! 

Good for you, because THEY are not v. good at all!

Tried contacting THEM 4 times yesterday.The 1st 3 phone calls were cut off at THEIR end (!) and the 4th attempt yielded a 26 minute wait! I gave up in the end.

All I want to do is down load the RTI PAYE for 2015-2016, but every HMRC site I have been on has outdated information! 

GRRRR! 

Have you, or any of your contributors found any web sites/ ways of down-loading the 2015-2016 soft ware?

As a last resort yesterday, I e-mailed the HMRC help desk. I don't know if I will get a reply, even though I emphasised how important it is to download the new software, that I am TRYING to submit an RTI report, and that I DO NOT wish to be penalised for late submission. Another GRRR!

If you could help that would be fantastic!"

Any advice would be gratefully received by my loyal reader.

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"

Lin Homer's £20K Bonus

My thanks to a loyal reader who has posted that Lin Homer has been awarded a £20K bonus:

"Just to rub salt in to the wounds, Homer got a bonus over £20,000 for 14/15. 

That's on top of her £185,000 salary. 

She got an exceeded marking for her PMR lol"

Well deserved no doubt!

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 Emergency Levy

Now that people have the freedom to access their pensions (subject to whatever restrictions/costs their pension providers choose to impose), one might have thought it would be plain sailing for all those 55+ looking to enjoy their money before being imprisoned in a care home.

Sadly, not quite.

For we must not forget HMRC.

The Telegraph reports that every saver who uses the new pension freedoms faces inaccurate tax charges, and will need to enter negotiations with HMRC to rectify the estimations.

For why?

People must supply a P45 to have the correct amount of tax deducted on their withdrawals. However, the forms are only issued when people leave employment or a pension has been paid out in full. Therefore those still in work, or who retired before the start of the tax year, will be unable to show a valid document and so must pay an "emergency" levy.

Even people withdrawing small amounts may have 45% tax applied to their fund.

Ros Altmann, an independent pensions expert, said:

"A lot of people are going to get a nasty shock when they see how much tax is going to be deducted from their funds. The tax office has made it very difficult for pension companies to apply the right amount of tax - many people will be very angry. 

This is clearly unfair and there should be a system where people can write to the tax office before they withdraw money."

HMRC is insisting on the P45 form because it is the only document that details how much tax someone has paid so far that tax year.
In a statement, an HMRC spokesman said:

"Claimants presenting their 2015/16 P45 to their pension provider will pay the correct tax. In the event that they don’t, any discrepancy will be settled within 30 days of HMRC being notified." 

Methinks 30 days is a tad optimistic, given how many people might be rushing to cash in some of their pensions!


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"

Lin Homer Tingles About Empowerment

My thanks to a loyal reader who pointed me in the direction of a recently posted article on the civil service blog by Lin Homer, entitled "Empowerment: advice from a pot to a kettle!".

Homer, in her own words, was apparently "still tingling from the helpful and challenging 360-degree feedback I read last night."

Well then!

She struggles with her interventionist streak:

"I know, within my team, that it’s important that I give strong permission for people to wrestle the controls physically from me, as my character will revert to its more directive style."

However, apparently, things at HMRC are improving thanks to Pacesetter:

"HMRC has used a continuous improvement process, which we call Pacesetter, and using those basic skills, but also empowered by the confidence that that Ruth will support them, the teams have come up with hundreds of simple and effective changes. The results are improvements for customers, efficiencies for HMRC and a great sense of value and purpose."

Given her confidence, I am "surprised" that the comments made by HMRC staff members don't resonate with her view from the top eg:

"HMRC is definitely not an inspiring place to work! As for empowerment, I can honestly say I was more empowered 5-10 years ago than I am permitted to be now! Until the civil service abandons the universally hated PMR system, with its associated ‘guided distribution’ (which translates to ‘quotas’ – certainly within HMRC anyway), then I doubt all those good things like empowerment, morale or engagement will ever reappear!"

Views and comments from the frontline are always welcome!


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 Credit Compensation

#HMRC #compensation #gettingitwrong #incompetent Measly compensation for ruining my life for 2 years #apology pic.twitter.com/kqKxuIWcJu

— Lucieer07 (@lucycrisp) April 7, 2015

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"

Happy RTI Anniversary

2nd RTI anniversary slipped by over the Easter week end... Is it many happy returns or not? #payerti

— PayeRti.org (@PayeRtiOrg) April 7, 2015

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"

Happy New Tax Year!

Happy New Tax Year everyone!

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 Strategic Thinking

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"

GOV.UK Form Over Substance

Those of you who are less than satisfied with the quality of HMRC's new website hosted on GOV.UK (and your numbers are legion) may be interested to see what this exercise in "form over substance" has cost.

AccountingWeb, having submitted a freedom of information (FOI) request to HMRC about the actual and budgeted costs of the project have managed to elicit some numbers.

The budgeted costs in May 2014 for elements of the transition that weren't "business as usual" work were estimated at £942,000. However, actual costs as at the end of the project in March 2015 are expected to be £40,000 more.

Actual costs were provided under FOI up to December 2014 for HMRC-invoiced figures and did not include Government Digital Service (GDS) costs unless specifically invoiced to the Revenue. The further costs to March 2015 were ongoing costs above normal activities up to project closure.

Budgeted and actual figures spent on the project were:

• £153,000 on three permanent members of staff: head of web transition, senior project manager and project support.
• £60,000 budgeted for contractors to design the web content; £35,000 was spent.
• Travel and subsistence costs for staff were £50,000 less than the £105,000 budgeted for.
• Budgeted costs for IT costs, including content changes, IT equipment for mobile working, network/infrastructure information requests and API development were £574,000. 
• The actual IT amounted to £737,000 - £640,000 by the end of December, with a further £97,000 to be invoiced by March. This included a oneoff £500,000 payment to GDS, for "HMRC specific related migration and content design work" which, according to the FOI, wasn't budgeted for.
• In addition, around £50,000 was budgeted for web content migration training, but only £2,000 was actually spent on this.

The government claimed HMRC’s transition from "switching off old systems" will save £164,000 in its first year up to April 2016.

After this the savings are expected to rise to £202,000 in each year thereafter - a 22% saving on non staff-related web hosting costs in 2014/15. This is against an "assumed 15% saving Cabinet Office expected would be made".

This means it may take HMRC until around 2020 to recoup the total cost of the project.


Costs issues aside, the key issue that annoys many is that the contents of the site is simply not up to snuff.

Form over substance wins every time with politicians!

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"

Jog Off!

According to HMRC proposals leaked to ContractorCalculator, anyone living within 30 minutes walking distance from work will not be allowed to claim for motor vehicle or public transport travel expenses, because they could walk to work.

The only exception to the new rules is that if it is raining or below 5⁰C, then a contractor will qualify for tax relief on travel expenses.

It seems this is part of the state's plans to make us all fit and healthy. HMRC’s proposed ‘living in close proximity to work’ regulations also include provision for home workers to earn tax reliefs through home exercise regimes.

HMRC even propose tracking the speed at which people walk/run to work to see if they qualify for certain new reliefs.

Well I see this working very smoothly then!

Stulti!

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"