Tax Credits Deadline 31st July

Tax credits deadline 31st July.

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"

Ruth Owen Uses The "C" Word

Ruth Owen, HMRC customer services director, has labelled British taxpayers as “customers”, despite radio presenter John Humphrys pointing out the public has “no choice” but to deal with them.

Good for Humphrys pointing out what has been said many times on this site over the past few years!

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 Cleaners Strike

The “national living wage” (NLW) was theoretically designed to boost low-paid workers’ income and help people off welfare. However, unsurprisingly some companies have been looking for ways to reduce the cost impact of the NLW.

Step forward ISS, the company that employs the HMRC cleaners in Liverpool.

ISS informed the HMRC cleaners them that it intended to claw back any increase in hourly pay by cutting each worker’s number of hours so that their overall wages stayed the same.

In theory this meant no changes to the take home pay, and a cut in working hours.

So far so good?

Except that single people on low pay who work at least 30 hours a week qualify for working tax credits. These are paid out by HMRC, which is also responsible for enforcing the NLW.

When ISS lopped two hours from their working week, the cleaners fell below the threshold and have, as a result, lost between £40 and £50 a week in tax credit payments each.

Hence the cleaners voted to go on strike for two days this week.

The Guardian notes the irony that ISS is a Danish company contracted by a Mapeley (Mapeley being offshore) offshoot to clean the buildings.

Now, of course, if the cleaners find additional hours in other work they will be able to have their tax credits reinstated. That of course all depends on the local job market.

The question is, if the number of hours cleaning has been reduced do the staff of HMRC who work in those offices notice any difference?

If not, then it seems ISS were overcharging HMRC for work that was not required before the hours were cut. If there is a noticeable decline in office cleanliness, then HMRC need to raise this with ISS.

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 Collapse In Service To Chill The Blood

Our "respected" members of Parliament (specifically PAC) have warned that cuts to HMRC helplines have cost taxpayers £4 for every £1 saved and left taxpayers waiting for an average of 47 minutes for their calls to be answered.

No surprises there then!

The Public Accounts Committee goes on to warn that plans to cut the number of staff at HMRC by a third by 2021 could lead to another “collapse” in customer service and will “chill the blood of many taxpayers”.

Meg Hillier, the chairman of the committee, is quoted by the Telegraph:

"The prospect of HMRC making further cuts to spending on customer service will chill the blood of many taxpayers.

HMRC's recent performance in this area has been appalling for long periods and left members of the public counting the cost in time and money.

It is bad enough that people trying to pay their fair share of tax should have been kept waiting for so long.

But holding for HMRC's helpline has hit them in the pocket too - a serious concern for those on low incomes and a dismal message to send to small businesses, the self-employed and anyone else simply seeking advice.”

Mrs Hillier also said:

"HMRC has serious work to do before this committee is confident it can provide a consistent, efficient service that properly meets the needs of taxpayers and optimises tax revenue.

Efforts to meet government spending targets must not come through ill-conceived measures that effectively penalise the people departments are intended to serve."

An HMRC spokesman said:

"This is an inaccurate, out of date reflection of our phone performance. We acknowledge that service levels in the early part of last year were not acceptable and we apologised at the time.

But the PAC is well aware our phone lines have since fully recovered and we are now offering our best service levels in years. Wait times are now below five minutes and customers consistently rate the support they receive on the phones as excellent.”

Well then, nothing to worry about at all it's all lies then!

I would care to make an observation, it's all very well MPs moaning about HMRC and its service levels (or lack of service levels). However, HMRC's budget is set by the government, tax policy is set by the Chancellor and voted on by Parliament and those who run HMRC are selected/approved of by the Treasury.

Therefore MPs only have themselves to blame for HMRC being shite!

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"

Accenture Renews Contract With HMRC

The Chronicle Live reports that at least 30 new technology jobs will be created at Accenture’s Newcastle Delivery Centre after Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs renewed a major contract with the company.

Accenture has been tasked with helping HMRC increase its use of digital technologies on the personal tax platform.

Under the terms of the agreement, which runs through to June 2020, it will develop, implement and maintain a secure cloud-hosted tax-management system for individual taxpayers.

Some of the new roles created for the HMRC work will likely be dedicated to maintenance of the platform.
Others may centre on the transition to the cloud and it is possible that further mobile services will also need to be developed.

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 Telephony

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has published an update report into Telephony in DWP and HMRC.

Here are a few choice cuts from the report:

Call- backs should be offered by DWP and HMRC contact centre staff when a customer is calling from a mobile phone (and will be charged for that call). Call -backs should be offered systematically and proactively at the beginning of any customer phone call made from a mobile phone.

The information about the cost of calling HRMC should be improved significantly so that customers are able to make some judgment about the likely cost of calling HMRC using different types of phones. HMRC shoul d aim for a standard statement about call costs that can be used across a variety of formats and ensure that an automated message about call costs appears at the beginning of every customer contact.

The DWP offered 42 different 0800 numbers (in 2014), whereas HMRC only offer a handful (for example, those encouraging the public to inform on those who might be committing fraud or in the case of flooding).

HMRC have told us that the cost of moving to 0800 numbers for them would be in the region of £3- 4 million annually . They have taken a judgement that a better and more long- term solution would be to invest in its staff who deal with the incoming calls, ensuring that they are better equipped to deal with often complex queries from customers quickly, efficiently and reducing the need for follow -up calls. This could potentially reduce both the duration of the call and waiting times.

HMRC’s target of answering calls within 5 minutes is woefully inadequate and unambitious. The industry benchmark is to answer 80 per cent of calls in 20 seconds and some organisations aim to answer 90 per cent in 10 seconds.

Overall HMRC Contact Centre performance deteriorated significantly in 2014- 15 as compared with 2013- 14. The percentage of attempted calls “handled” (answered) by their Contact Centres fell to just 68 per cent in the final quarter of 2014- 15. Similarly, records maintained to show progress against the percentage of calls answered within 5 minutes (the “5 minutes 80 per cent target” set as a response to PAC ’s report ) showed a significant decline as compared with 2013- 14.

We recommend that a call -back system be reviewed as a short -term aid for customers ringing HMRC together with an information system that advises customers of potential wait times. 

Well then, let's see how things progress!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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

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

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

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

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

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



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

Homer's Pension Pot Just Keeps Growing

In January this year I wrote about Homer's pension pot:

"As Lin Homer walks away with a £2.174million pension pot (lifetime allowances anyone?) we should not be too envious as, according to HMRC:

"Her pension is actuarially-reduced, because she is leaving before retirement age. She is receiving no severance compensation.”

It seems that, despite volatile market conditions, that pot has now grown to £2.4M.

In fact she has done rather well for herself, according to the Mail she is entitled to an index linked £125K per annum income. Oh, and by the way, she got a £20K bonus before leaving.

Rewarding failure really doesn't cover it does 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"

The Future is Digital?

Hmrc online services down by any chance?

— Sue Christensen (@taxqueen49) July 21, 2016

@taxqueen49 I cant log into anything!

— Stuart Jones (@StuartJones) July 21, 2016

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"

Release The Hounds - HMRC Target The Elderly

On the subject of debt collectors, it seems that (according to This is Money) HMRC have been a wee bit quick off the mark to send in debt collectors to collect small amounts of tax credits etc overpaid many years ago.

Apparently, HMRC is setting debt collectors on unsuspecting taxpayers without any prior warning. Pensioners and families are receiving threatening letters out of the blue from debt recovery agents demanding immediate payment. Elderly people are being hounded for debts that are more than a decade old, and other diligent taxpayers are being wrongly harassed after the tax office botched some of its calculations.

The amounts are usually small, and those affected often have no idea that they owe a penny. However, instead of a letter advising taxpayers they need to make a payment, officials are calling in debt collectors.

My Twitter chum Elaine Clark, managing director of CheapAccounting, hits the nail firmly on the head:

"HMRC should be going after big firms who have failed to pay their tax, not pensioners over £200 dating back from years ago that they didn’t realise they owed."

Unfortunately, low hanging fruit are always the easiest and most tempting to pick!

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"

Debt Collectors Survey

A survey released by debt charity StepChange, looking into people experiences of debt collectors, reports that of the respondents who were contacted by HMRC, 28% said they were unfairly treated, while 41% said they were fairly treated.

Which contrasts to private companies thusly (and surprisingly) - of clients who had been contacted by payday and short term lenders, 28% said they had been treated unfairly. The organisations perceived to be least unfair were credit card companies – just 20% of clients said they had been treated unfairly, and high street banks – 21%.

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"

Digital Delay

Last week HMRC cancelled a digital stakeholder event, schedule for the 14th of July, that many believed would have announced the release date of the project’s consultation documents.

CEO Jon Thompson and executive chair Edward Troup were expected to attend the stakeholder conference. However, due the the "turbulent political landscape", they postponed it.

As per AccountancyAge HMRC issued the following notice on 12th July:

“Following the early change of prime minister announced yesterday, HMRC’s executive leadership will need to be available to ministers at all times during the remainder of the week.

Unfortunately, this means that we will have to postpone the HMRC Stakeholder Conference on Thursday 14 July. We’re sorry for the short notice and inconvenience, and we will be in touch with a new date as soon as we can.

The political landscape has rapidly changed this week. We currently intend to publish the MTD consultation documents in the summer but understandably it won’t be this week.”

A convenient excuse for delaying publishing Making Tax Digital documents. This inevitably shortens the amount of time that people will have to scrutinise and comment on the documents.

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 New Minister For Tax

New Financial Secretary to @hmtreasury, succeeding @DavidGauke. #MinisterForTax https://t.co/Rbx0WXkDfm

— Robert O'Hare (@rjohare017) July 18, 2016

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"

Morse Worried About Optimism Bias and Underwriting Failure

Amyas Morse, the Comptroller and Auditor General, issued a report last week on the 2015-16 accounts of HMRC.

---

“HMRC is running a complex and challenging set of change programmes, and aiming to maintain service to taxpayers at the same time. On the one hand, it needs to keep its nerve and commitment to its goals even if there are occasional setbacks along the way; on the other, it needs to ensure that it does not make the taxpayer underwrite the risk of failure through service breakdowns.”

Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, 14 July 2016

---

Tax revenues and spending in 2015-16
HMRC raised £536.8 billion of tax revenues this year, an increase of £19.1 billion (3.7%) on 2014-15 and paid out £40 billion in benefits and credits (approximately one-fifth of the government’s total benefit expenditure). The annual cost of running HMRC was £3.2 billion in 2015-16 (£3.1 billion in 2014-15).

Transforming tax administration
HMRC has begun to implement its plans to transform how it administers tax. Its vision is to have “the most digitally advanced tax system in the world”. By 2021, it expects to employ 16% fewer staff, substantially rationalise its estate and automate more of its processes.

HMRC’s approach looks credible and proportionate to the scale of the risks involved, and it has worked closely with the Treasury and Cabinet Office to develop and refine its plans. It is too early to evaluate how well its approach is working but one of the most critical tests will be how management responds when things do not go as expected. NAO have identified two areas of risk:

• Optimism bias in key assumptions – in the last Parliament, HMRC was over-optimistic about how much change it could deliver all at once, and how fast it could reduce demand for telephone contact in particular. This resulted in a collapse of its service to personal taxpayers in 2014-15 and the first half of 2015-16. HMRC has since recovered the quality of its service to personal taxpayers by recruiting more staff and has adjusted its future resource plans in the light of this experience.
• Understanding the costs and benefits to taxpayers – HMRC has yet to estimate the costs for individual taxpayers or businesses of making the transition to online services or to quantify the benefits they can expect. Over the next year, it plans to develop a fuller picture of what it will cost taxpayers to use the new systems. Most business customers will be required to update HMRC quarterly rather than annually about their tax affairs, and some may need to purchase new software that works with the new systems. Some businesses are sceptical of HMRC’s evaluations of the costs and benefits of previous changes to the tax system.

As Morse says, let us ensure that we taxpayers do not end up underwriting HMRC's failure!

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"

David Gauke

I am grateful for the kindness and patience of all in the tax world - HMRC and HMT officials, tax professionals and campaigners.

— David Gauke (@DavidGauke) July 14, 2016

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"

No Emergency Budget - Quelle Surprise NOT!

Well 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"

Whither David Gauke?

Today Theresa de Vil becomes Prime Minister and appoints a new cabinet.

The question is, what will she do with David Gauke who has been responsible for tax reform and "making tax digital"?

Will she keep him where he is, as a vote of confidence in his work to date, or "promote" him away from tax reform?

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 Taskforces Map

The Telegraph reports that HMRC’s army of investigators (the taskforces) trawls through billions of items of data to catch out evaders before carrying out “intense bursts of activity” in a particular area, raking in £540m from sole traders and small companies who have underpaid tax in its five-year history.

The map, above, details when and where taskforces have already taken aim.

Low hanging fruit that may cost more (in terms of time and effort) to pick than it is really worth.

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 IT Delivery Programme Director

It's all go at HMRC these days, not only are they looking for a deputy IT director for cloud services but they are also looking to hire an IT Delivery Programme Director:

"HMRC is in the midst of what is probably its biggest transformation. By 2020 it will be one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations anywhere in the world, changing from legacy systems and a one supplier approach to a cloud and open source environment, with Agile working. 

This cutting edge technical evolution and business model will increase self-service through digital channels. HMRC is looking for a motivational IT Delivery Programme Director to lead a diverse portfolio of IT projects and programmes, shape the strategy of future IT delivery based around Agile methodology, supplier management and lead and shape the Project Delivery profession."

The post pays £120K, and the closing date is 22 July.

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 Scores Largest Cardiff Property Deal of The Year

As the commercial property bubble appears to have been pricked by Brexit, I see that HMRC in Cardiff has just secured the largest property deal of the year in Cardiff with Cooke & Arkwright.

HMRC has completed on 54,587 sq ft at Brunel House.

HMRC has an ongoing long term requirement for its Welsh regional hub, bringing new work to Wales and accommodating up to 3,800 full-time posts in the city centre by 2019.

Brunel House is managed by Mercer Real Estate Partners. Alex Hardwick, from Mercer, is quoted by Wales Online:

“We are delighted to have secured such a substantial letting to the building within such a short timeframe of taking over the building, and look forward to welcoming HMRC to Brunel House."

Meanwhile...

In Dramatic Twist, UK Property Fund Cuts Value Of Its Assets By 17%

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 Queen's Bank Hit With £75M Tax Evasion Fine

As per Citywire Coutts has been fined £75 million wrt two separate tax evasion probes relating to its former Swiss private banking business.

The largest of the two penalties (£56 million) was paid to US prosecutors after it admitted assisting US clients to conceal assets in offshore accounts, which subsequently helped them evade tax.

In a separate investigation, Coutts paid £18.8 million to German prosecutors after a tax evasion probe covering a 10-year period to 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"

HMRC Has Its Head In The Clouds

In September 2015 I wrote that HMRC was seeking to recruit a "cloud transformation director":

"HMRC is looking for a cloud transformation director, and will pay up to £162,500 for the right person.

According to HMRC's advert, HMRC had a "vision" (how very messianic of it) for the provision of online, real-time services to be accessible from any device, any time using the latest cloud technology.

Hence HMRC is looking for an IT leader who is "up for the challenge of delivering transformation on a massive scale". 

Here we are in July 2016 (older but probably not any wiser) and, "oddly" enough, it seems that HMRC are now seeking a "deputy IT director for cloud services".

Isn't this overkill I hear you cry?

Errrm..... no it's not, for you see dear readers, the more senior role was never filled!

The new position is paying a "mere" £100,000 and the recruit will be responsible for migration onto the HMRC cloud platforms.

I wonder why HMRC thinks that cutting the salary by £63K will somehow ensure that a previously unfilled role will now be filled?

Anyhoo, the successful candidate (if one ever emerges) will report to the director of development, testing and operations and will line manage a team of around 50 staff.

The closing date for the HMRC role is 11 July, further details here.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

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

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

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

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

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

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



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

HMRC Contradicts Itself

AccountancyAge reports that HMRC has had to back down in its fight to reclaim unpaid PAYE contributions in a first-tier tribunal, after already writing to the appellant that it had no tax to pay.

HMRC argued that Walkers’ Baggage Transfer, a company that transports luggage of holidaymakers exploring Hadrian’s Wall, had not accounted for the £727.80 in PAYE contributions properly due for one of its drivers.

The driver was present in the court and swiftly countered HMRC claims with a letter sent by HMRC.

“I believe that your employer operated Pay As You Earn (PAYE) correctly using the information they had at the time. This means that I will not be asking your employer to pay the £727.80 tax due.”

The judge quickly came to his conclusion and found that there was an “obvious conflict between the terms of this letter and the stance of HMRC”, ruling in favour of the driver.

What a shambles!

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"

Grint Sues HMRC For £1M

Rupert Grint, who appeared as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, is suing HMRC for a £1M tax refund.

According to The Guardian, the actor is objecting to a decision by HMRC to prevent him employing an accounting period shorter than 12 months between 31 July 2009 and 5 April 2010 – the eve of the new tax year in which a 50% top rate of tax came into force.

According to Grint’s accountant, Dan Clay, this refusal resulted in an additional tax payment of £1M.

HMRC rejected the date change after it was called into question by an accounting document discovered during an unrelated and routine VAT inspection which showed a different date.

Grint’s lawyers argued this document, relied on by HMRC, was just an informal summary of financial information, never intended to constitute an official set of accounts.

Lawyers told the tribunal that there was nothing improper or untoward about the date change. The hearing is now closed.

Will the muggles at HMRC win?

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"