Dedicated to the taxpayers of Britain, and the employees of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), who have to endure the monumental shambles that is HMRC.
A number of loyal readers have commented on the word "lately" re Homer's Damehood:
"Order of the Bath Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath Ms Linda Margaret HOMER, CB Lately Chief Executive, HM Revenue and Customs. For public service particularly to Public Finance. (Hadleigh, Suffolk)."
Does this mean she has already left office?
If so, why has there been no advert for the job yet?
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.
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.
Another New Year approaches, and with it another set of New Year honours.
Normally the honours attract a degree of admiration and ridicule, depending on who has been awarded one and on the political perspective of those viewing the honours list.
However, this year marks a turning point in which the entire country has been royally taken the piss out of by the award of a Damehood to Lin Homer.
Homer's "career" (if it can be described as such) is a series of increasingly appalling car crashes of spectacular incompetence, as she climbs the slippery slope of civil service power and authority. Now, to add insult to injury, she has been awarded a Damehood for her work in HMRC.
This surely is an insult to every member of staff of HMRC and every taxpayer; ie it is an insult to the entire country.
Normally honours are awarded to those who have left office, to those who have done something useful or to those who are chums with the PM. However, as far as I can see, Homer is none of these.
Therefore I can only conclude that she was given the award for one (or a combination) of the following reasons:
1 Cameron is a closet republican, and wants to bring the system into such disrepute that it is abolished.
2 Cameron wants to take people's attention away from Crosby's honour.
3 Homer was about to leave, and the award is a bribe to keep her in office long enough so that she can be blamed when HMRC inevitably collapses.
4 Homer knows where the bodies are buried in HMRC, and it's a bribe to keep her quiet.
Whatever the reason, it's a fucking disgrace!
Thoughts and comments are very much appreciated.
Incidentally, a twitter chum of mine who is a journalist is seeking confirmation (for an article that he is penning) that Homer is on PAYE. I assume that she is, but please could someone confirm this?
Thanks.
Happy New 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.
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.
Despite the ongoing chaos in the North of the country caused by storms Desmond, Eva and Frank, HMRC are emulating the response of Sir Philip Dilley (chairman of the Environment Agency) and not giving a damn.
"Stuart Jones of 3CA Accountants in Kendal, Cumbria has borne the
brunt of the twin storms’ fury. According to Jones, residents are
bracing themselves for further storms. Kendal was completely cut off
three days ago as all the roads leading into the town were flooded.
Jones
now has the unenviable task of facing self assessment season with a
ruined office. “Our downstairs was about a metre deep,” said Jones.
“We’ve had to move upstairs and we’ve lost all our computers and records.” HMRC has set up a flooding tax helpline -
but Jones told AccountingWEB he has struggled to get conclusive answers
on precisely what allowances will be made for accountants in his
position. “When I phoned the helpline, I was told they couldn’t help me
with any client who didn’t owe HMRC money.
“They seem to expect me
to write in for every individual client to ask for reasonable excuse - I
have 80 returns to file,” he said. “And I bet if I did do that, I’d be
told to write in - but HMRC’s response turnaround is 12 weeks.”
He
continued, “Their main concern seems to be they don’t want to be seen
chasing debts from businesses who are literally up to their necks in
water. The rest of us just have to hold on,” said Jones."
This sounds par for the course for HMRC. Please feel free to share your HMRC flood stories.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Congratulations to HMRC for coming almost bottom in the 2015 Civil Service People Survey wrt staff engagement as published 16 November (yes, I know I'm late with this!).
The median employee engagement index was 58%, HMRC scored 45% (only three other departments scored lower).
Bonuses all round then eh?
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.
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.
"Jessica Figueras, chief analyst at government IT experts Kable,
believes the additional £1.3bn promised to digitise HMRC by 2020 is
money that has been costed from the Aspire contract. "HMRC is planning to save 25 per cent of the costs of
Aspire by replacing it," she said. Last year HMRC spent £874m on IT and
digital. "Put it another way – HMRC's stated plan is to spend less on
digital and IT, not more."
Let's see where we are in a year's time!
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.
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.
HMRC has today launched its digital accounts for personal taxpayers, and set
out details of its “transformative” plans to use technology to cut
costs and improve taxpayer service.
On the assumption that nothing goes wrong, HMRC believes that every individual and small business would have access to their own secure digital tax account next year.
HMRC's "brave" step towards a digital future will theoretically pave the way for the automatic uploading
of the information needed by HMRC leading to what it described as “the
end of the tax return for millions of taxpayers”.
During 2016, information on bank and building
society interest will start to be included in tax codes, removing the
need for many taxpayers to report this income separately in a tax return.
The new personal tax accounts are aimed at providing a joined-up view
of individuals’ tax and benefits, allowing them to update their tax
details as needed and making it easier to contact HMRC officials through
services like web chat.
David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, said the new
accounts were part of a digital transformation aimed at making the tax
system more effective, more efficient and easier for taxpayers.
“Giving customers the ability to manage their tax affairs
online is our latest step towards a fully digital tax system. This
government is determined to revolutionise how we deliver public services
and the tax system is no exception.”
Well then, let us see how this pans out in reality shall we?
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.
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.
Despite warnings, the
government will go ahead with plans to consult on legislation that will
create a new criminal offence for corporations that fail to take
appropriate steps to prevent the facilitation of tax avoidance.
Pinsent Masons, the law firm, notes that the new law will be difficult to impose against overseas firms. Jason Collins, partner and head of tax at Pinsent Masons, is quoted by economia warning of the dangers of trial by press release:
“You can’t extradite a company.
HMRC may resort to 'prosecution by press release' – i.e., by issuing
criminal proceedings which, because they are in the public domain, will
mean the foreign company has to decide whether to respond in the public
domain.
This is the sort of legislation of which US law-makers would be
proud. It is a bold attempt by the UK to extend the arm of its law
beyond its borders. It needs to be matched with resources to police the
offence otherwise it will become a damp squib.”
The government has also published further details on new powers that will
allow HMRC to levy penalties on companies that persistently
engage in aggressive tax planning.
A large business can be placed under what HMRC describes as “special
measures” if it judges it to have an ongoing history of tax planning.
HMRC’s “special measures” could then be used to impose harsher penalties
if any unpaid tax is due to a “speculative interpretation” of UK law.
Pinsent Masons are of the view that HMRC is free to decide what this “speculative interpretation” is. Heather Self, partner at Pinsent
Masons said:
“The new terms effectively leave HMRC as judge, jury and executioner
on these businesses’ approach to tax.
That is a very subjective judgement and is likely to result in some very contentious penalties when it is used.”
Handing more powers to HMRC, given its track record of mistakes and abusing its current powers, is not step in the right direction.
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.
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.
My thanks to a Loyal Reader who pointed out that Money Mail is looking for votes for their Wooden Spoon Award, which HMRC has featured in for six years running.
No Wooden Spoon contest is complete without the taxman gracing the list. Incredibly, this is the sixth year in a row that HM Revenue & Customs has featured. Will it ever get its act together?
The introduction this year of the new marriage tax allowance was shambolic. Problems with the application process triggered a flood of furious letters to our postbag.
In most cases, you’d been unable to get the tax break because you couldn’t pass the online test
to prove your identity. Some of you wrote to complain, but didn’t get a response for months.
To qualify, older applicants were asked for credit card, mortgage, passport or driving licence details. This froze out those who have paid off their mortgage, don’t borrow, have only a paper driving licence or no longer go abroad.
The usual problems were also prevalent: callers have also been kept on the line for nearly an hour to speak to an adviser; readers told how separate departments failed to pass on information to each other; and families were unexpectedly hit with massive bills.
In particular, millions of elderly taxpayers keep being told that they owe thousands of pounds — but can’t get an explanation as to why. Worse, their appeal is often thrown out by officials. Only when their dispute goes to the Adjudicator, the tax watchdog, is it finally upheld. For many of those forced to fight HMRC, the most troubling aspect is that despite not putting a foot wrong, they’re held accountable for a tax mistake they haven’t even made.
A spokesperson for HMRC says: ‘Our service levels have not been good enough at busy periods this year, and improvements to our service have taken longer than we’d hoped. We have taken major steps to improve, including the recruitment of 3,000 new staff into customer service roles.’
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.
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.
HMRC's recent boast in an advert in the Sunday Times, in which it states that more than 90
countries and jurisdictions that are set to commence the sharing of
financial information on UK taxpayers, has been called into question by tax professionals.
Doubts have been raised over whether HMRC
can readily handle, and make use of, the information garnered through the
arrangements.
Nigel May, a senior tax partner at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, is quoted by AccoutancyAge:
"Campaigns like this are all well and good but questions remain over the
ability of HMRC to use the information they gain from this high profile
action.
We have found that similar previous advertising tended to flush
out taxpayers who had in fact fully complied and were just terrified by
the inherent underlying threat. And we also know of other instances of cases where there was
undeclared tax due of under £100 which would undoubtedly have cost the
revenue more in administration costs than the small sum they received."
Time will tell as to whether HMRC's boasts reflect reality.
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.
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.
As per AccountingWeb, HMRC has announced a focus on the assets of strippers, escort
agencies and lap dancing clubs, with the creation of a new ‘adult
entertainment’ taskforce.
HMRC agents will be going undercover into strip clubs etc.
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do 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.
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.
HMRC has selected Bain & Company
to guide its transition away from its £10.7 billion Aspire IT
outsourcing contract. Bain beat eight other
bids for the £20 million contract.
In order to try to gain more control over its IT infrastructure,
and end the excessive profit making, the HMRC is exploring ways to
change the way in which its IT operations are managed.
Consultancy.uk reports that Bain & Company was
chosen on the back of its strategic IT expertise (85%) and price (15%),
and the move will see the consultancy become HMRC’s main transformation
advisory partner.
Bain’s new role will be to provide
strategic support to the HMRC, helping the “programme management team
exit from a large-scale outsourced IT arrangement” according to the
tender document.
The consultants will among others be responsible for IT
strategy advisory, programme management and governance, system process
re-engineering, supporting the people and culture change workstream, and
providing further functional/industry expertise as required.
The
contract with Bain formally started in September of this year and runs
until August 2017, thus sometime after the Aspire contract comes to an
end.
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.
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.
Ever wondered why it takes HMRC so long to answer a letter?
A loyal reader yesterday summed up the reasons for the ever slower response times:
"HMRC announced that they were going to start scanning all incoming post
so they closed all the Regional Post Rooms (including Shipley which has
the mysterious BX5 postcode).
What they didnt tell Shipley was
that Shipley would become the postroom for the whole of HMRC until the
digitalisation programme was complete.
And therein lies the
problem, Shipley is running on a skeleton staff and are struggling to
cope with the volumes of post coming in and there are delays in
distributing post to the network.
I dont blame the staff, they are doing their best - its EXCOM I blame."
Response times are, if I am right, around 8 weeks or more?
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.
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.
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.
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.
