RIP Enquiry Centres - One Year On

My thanks to a loyal reader who reminded me that the last of HMRC's enquiry centres closed their doors a year ago.

At that time I wrote:

"The last of HMRC's 281 enquiry centres have closed their doors.

Taxpayers will now have to rely on call centres and personal visits from HMRC staff to help them with their tax queries."

One year on, I ask for views and comments from readers as to how things are going without the enquiry centres?

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 Throws £45M At Taxpayer Service Issues

I see that HMRC has promised to throw £45M at its customer service problems, specifically call handling problems, in the hope that the issues can be fixed.

Seemingly around 3,000 additional staff will join customer service teams, in addition to 2,000 staff who are being moved over from other parts of HMRC to help with the tax credits deadlines, letters and forms.

Lin Homer is quoted by Accountancy Age:

"Good customer service is an absolute priority for HMRC. We set ourselves the target to answer 80% of calls, to provide a more consistent level of service across the year and to reduce peaks and troughs in service levels between busy and quieter times."

All very well, maybe. However, two small points:

1 The £45M is not extra money, it is money taken from other parts of HMRC's budget.

2 FFS stop calling taxpayers "customers", address that issue first!


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"

Postal Confusion

@ken_frost My OH got a 'remember to do your tax return' letter last week dated April. I'd already done her return and received the refund.

— Simon Licence (@simonlicence) June 25, 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 Over 2 Months To Post a Letter

Kudos to HMRC for taking over 2.5 months to post a letter!

#HMRC never cease to amaze. Letter dated 6 April 2015 has arrived this morning! Be honest HMRC, when was it posted? http://t.co/dudv5Z1vfi

— Stuart Jones (@StuartJones) June 25, 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"

Huge Filing Backlog

We are slowly getting confirmations of filing through - still a huge backlog to clear https://t.co/r7NXFldoUV

— Elaine Clark (@cheapaccounting) June 24, 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 Online System Problems

There appear to be some issues with HMRC online services at the moment, as per the comments on the RTI section of this site and Twitter:

#Accountants Start a Twitter Protest RT this if you're suffering because of @HMRCcustomers online service outage #HMRCoutage

— Elaine Clark (@cheapaccounting) June 24, 2015

#HMRC now sending same email over and over again acknowledging receipt of submission their server said had failed.

— Jon Stow (@JonStow) June 23, 2015

Please feel free to share your experiences.

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 Informants £605K

The amount of money paid to informants by HMRC, in its attempts to crack down on tax evasion, has increased by 50% to £605K.

The Guardian quotes research by City law firm RPC, noting that the payouts have risen from £402,000 in 2013-14 through greater public awareness of the potential rewards, as people working in financial or professional services increasingly join the ranks of ex-spouses or former employees in providing tip-offs.

An HMRC spokesperson said:

“The majority of people who provide information to us do so without any expectation of a financial reward. Cash rewards are discretionary and based on what is brought in as a direct result of the information provided. 

We receive information from a wide variety of sources and it is always used to make sure everyone pays what they should.”

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 Proof of The Pudding

It is interesting to note that HMRC claims that it will move away from from automated penalties, and take a common sense approach.

Could this be true? #HMRC could stop issuing automated penalties and take a common sense approach #really http://t.co/5hAQpvHw1S

— Rachael Singh (@RachaelSingh13) June 19, 2015

What caused this shift, and will it actually occur?

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 16% Post Clearance "Success"

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted the following comment about the Personal Tax Operations May statistics for post clearance:

"Well...success has been verified !!! 

Latest PT Ops for May have been "published"...internally of course....the 15 day post clearance target for PAYE/SA has been smashed....a target of 80% clearance was just slightly missed with a score of ...wait for it.......16% !!!

Bonuses all round for senior management...another truly astounding performance from EXCOM....watch the spin merchants at their work !!"

Not exactly a stellar performance is 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"

HMRC's Unrefined £1M Fine

HMRC seems to have got rather carried away with itself over calculating what an errant scaffolder (Matthew Hodges) owed it in fines and tax for undeclared VAT.

Hodges failed to declare (ie evaded) £11,000 in tax. However, HMRC accused him of evading £529,536 in VAT due on the scaffolding projects he carried out since 2006. On top of the unpaid tax, HMRC demanded £399,734 as a penalty for non-payment.

The onus of proof is of course is on the taxpayer to disprove whatever HMRC says it is owed, thus Hodges was in rather a bind.

The tax tribunal said he actually owed £11,153, based on estimates of the reasonable number of jobs he could have completed in the five-year period.

Andrew Hubbard of Baker Tilly, is quoted by the Telegraph:

"It looks to be little more than a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation with no thought being given to the reality of how one person could have achieved a turnover of that level.

These figures have stretched credulity to such a point that a court has to intervene and say that the tax officer hasn't used their best judgement."

Nichola Ross Martin, of Ross Martin Tax Consultancy, Mr Hodges' representative at the tribunal said:

This was "wholly unrealistic for such a one-man operation,"

There would not be sufficient days in the year to erect and dismantle enough scaffolding to achieve such a return."

Judge John Brooks, of the tax tribunal, agreed.

He said:

"For Mr Hodges to have generated such additional turnover he would either have had double the amount charged to his customers or increased his work force."

HMRC later admitted its own calculations of more than £500,000 in unpaid VAT were "unrefined".

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 Recruiting By Stealth

In irony of ironies, despite sacking numerous experienced staff, HMRC is now recruiting again.

Albeit on a stealthy basis.

As per AccountingWEB

"One AccountingWEB member, who is a tax manager, recently received an email from a recruitment department for the civil service (called Civil Service Resourcing), asking if he was in "tax professional" roles across the UK in HMRC's "large business" unit.

The pay offered was £47,218 nationally, or £53,196 in London.

"I hope you don't mind the direct approach but I thought your profile was a potential fit for our currently advertised Tax Professional roles," the email said. "I'm not a agency recruiter - but part of a new official Government team which helps identify external talent to help us bring the right people into the most important jobs. This campaign is seeking to recruit a large number of Tax Professionals as part of an exciting and dynamic team that works with the UK's largest businesses."

HMRC's large business team is responsible for more than 2,000 high profile businesses, the email said."

What do people make of this then, has anyone received a stealthy job offer?

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 a Great Success!

As per Sir Nicholas Macpherson (who has, some 50 days late, realised  that HMRC is 10 years old):

"Revenue and Customs officials have done a fantastic job over the last decade on pretty much every metric."

ROFLMAO!

What metrics does he use I wonder?

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 Rewrites History

On June 5th HMRC issued a press release about Self Assessment Penalties:

BREAKING NEWS: Self Assessment Penalties https://t.co/ftHkRMzBLC - PAYE Penalty regime to be clarified next week! #payerti

— PayeRti.org (@PayeRtiOrg) June 5, 2015

However, move forward a few days and blinkey, blonkey, blimey!

Perhaps not... HMRC have amended this press release removing reference to RTI penalty annoucement 'next' week i.e. this! What's going on?

— PayeRti.org (@PayeRtiOrg) June 10, 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 Chaos

As per the Independent:

"Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been forced to apologise for “shocking” customer service that has hit small businesses struggling to complete their tax forms. 

A parliamentary answer to Richard Burden, the Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, showed that barely one-third of telephone calls made to HMRC contact centres were handled within five minutes in the second quarter of the last financial year, and only 40.3 per cent between April and June 2014."

Sigh!

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"

Whither Meet The Taxman?

In Q1 2014 I wrote about a fly on the wall documentary series about HMRC being commissioned, entitled "Meet The Taxman".

Here we are in June 2015, and not a sight nor sound of the documentary series.

Has anyone any ideas as to what happened to it?

Did cameras ever appear at any of the HMRC offices?

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 Aspires For Expertise

HMRC is seeking "transformation expertise" in order to exit Aspire in 2017.

HMRC is offering a two-year, £20m contract for a partner with "experience of managing large post-merger work force integrations and the significant people and cultural issues that arise".

 
HMRC needs an injection of strategic-level experience and capacity to support people and culture transformation.
The tender, which is also issued in the name of HMRC's chief digital and information officer (CDIO) Mark Dearnley, says it requires a Programme Management Office to undertake the management aspects of the programme.

HMRC is quoted by Government Computing saying that it envisages that the "lead transformation partner will provide leadership of the PMO and work alongside HMRC employees."

Basically Whitehall doesn't believe that HMRC has the ability to achieve that exit without external expertise.

A supplier event is to be held in London in the week commencing 8th June 2015, with bidders warned to expect that after evaluation, they may be required to attend an interview in London week commencing 20th July 2015.

The contract will begin barely a month later, on 1st September (how the fark will HMRC be able to evaluate the tenders so quickly?) and is due to end on 31st August 2017.

Those interested may apply here.

Good luck!

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 Goes For Online Sales

Those who use online sites such as eBay and Amazon to flog stuff on a regular basis, or as a "hobby", should be aware that profits from such sales are taxable.

More to the point, they should be aware that HMRC is using its powers to force these websites to hand over customer account details, including their selling activity.

The Telegraph reports that HMRC has sent 14,000 letters to traders suspected of running a business and failing to declare this on their tax returns:

“HMRC thinks you should have declared more on your tax returns than you did.”  

Anyone who fails to reply will face an automatic tax charge, where HMRC makes its own calculations on tax due and demands that it is paid within three months.

You have been warned!

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 Waives £100 Late Filing Penalty

HMRC has confirmed that, when a reasonable excuse has been provided, taxpayers who have filed late tax returns have been let off paying a £100 fine for missing the deadline.

HMRC wants to focus more resources "on investigating major tax avoidance and evasion".

The "forgiveness" of those with a reasonable excuse is not just down to HMRC trying to be "fair", but also down to the fact that it is facing a backlog of almost a million letters and staff have been taken off call centre duties to work through the mail.

As one loyal reader noted, the mail backlog is the size of Everest!

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"