HMRC has come a cropper in a first tier tribunal in the case of The Barty Party Co Ltd (TC06116).
AccountingWeb reports that the publican was in hot water with HMRC for failing to produce the books and records requested by a visiting HMRC officer in an information notice dated 10 November 2016.
The FTT supported the taxpayer and said that the notice had a “fundamental flaw.” It pulled the plug on HMRC and allowed the landlord’s appeal against the notice and associated penalty.
HMRC has the power to request information that is “reasonably required for the purpose of checking the taxpayer’s tax position”, (FA 2008, Sch 36). The key factor that persuaded the judge was that although the legislation gives HMRC the power to request information for the previous six years, their power of assessment is restricted to four years (VATA 1994 s 77). He felt that the onus was on HMRC to explain why information was required for the extra two years and because the officer had failed to do this, the notice was invalid and had a “fundamental flaw.”
Why did the officer ask for information covering the period 1 February 2012 to 30 November 2012 (as well as the other periods) when she had no power of assessment for these months, ie because the notice was issued in November 2016?
HMRC has the power to go back up to 20 years in the case of fraud, but in the Barty Party case there was no indication of deliberate errors being made. There was also another anomaly; an earlier visiting HMRC officer had apparently already reviewed the records up to 30 April 2012!
Overall, this was not a good day out of the office for HMRC. They also had to withdraw a £300 penalty issued on 21 December 2016, which was imposed when Mr Barton failed to provide the information requested in the flawed information notice.
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"
They waste endless time covering up internal misconduct & lawbreaking so there is little wonder that they're utterly incompetent at doing the 'day job'.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd like to know is will the HMRC officer be disciplined for their poor performance or promoted for being a failure (as is the norm) ?
I was a visiting officer for 29 years -latterly as part of HMRC it was routine for central visit bookers to request records for years already checked , and assesments raised on periods already checked even though they were out of time under the "one year rule " or the taxpayer had clearly been previously misdirected-guidance internally was to invite the taxpayer to appeal , whereas the business brief concerned stated no tax due in such circumstances -statistics is now king and to hell with fairness to taxpayers !
ReplyDeletewhat does central visit bookers mean?
DeleteClerical staff undertake the process of initial contact, basic check of details, arrange visit to suit trader and visiting officer calendars as well as requesting relevant documentation etc relating to timescale coverage of inspection, any special needs/requirements, H&S considerations etc. etc.
DeleteSaves the highly technical management grades the effort of persuading the customer to comply in the first place, and its a more cost effective method, honestly!
"its a more cost effective method" Lol.
DeleteIn other words compliance officers waste their time visiting largely compliant VAT Traders, with negligible amounts of extra revenue raised, because visits are selected by clueless clerical staff? Interesting.
Ello ello, what's going on ere then? Not understaffed, just driven by some clueless cost effective central booking method. Wtf is this about? Surely the local VAT cop knows his villains best?
DeleteVisiting officers in the modern era have a difficult role as they tend to be line managed by people who have no clue about VAT !
ReplyDelete"VAT is a simple TAX..."
ReplyDeleteYeah, and I believe that HMRC management adhere to the law!
The smell of corruption coming from HMRC is quite overwhelming and yet there's still been no enforcement of the law...
ReplyDeleteAs it is no longer PC or even legal to say some things which might be perceived as hate I have changed the saying to;
DeleteThere is no visible suspension of carbon particulates in the air without conflagration!
FFS the latest HMRC away was at The Oval this month !
ReplyDeleteHow much did this treat for the self serving greedy wasters, cost the taxpayers?
Taxpayers are struggling out in the real world. Public services are being cut. The public sector hasn't had a pay rise in years. Benefits have been frozen. NHS waiting times are going up. People are starving unless they can get to a food bank. Public money is short - how do these HMRC senior managers justify themselves? Do they have no humanity?
And why the hell is there no independent governance of HMRC? Surely that risks all sorts of corruption and misconduct.
They are taking the piss....have a look a Jon Thompson's HMRC twitter account....virtually nothing to do with the core business of tax collection....Social Mobility...Brilliant Civil Service...Diversity and Inclusion...Gender Equality...you couldn't make this shit up !!!!
DeleteThis is HMRC Senior Management casually 'sticking two fingers up' to the taxpayers who pay their wages and to the junior staff who do all the work in return for pay cuts. You really couldn't make this up, it's truly disgusting.
DeletePhocoena phocoena, by any other name?
ReplyDeleteis this a joke?
ReplyDelete