Tax Return Deadline Day

 

Today is the last day to submit your 2021 tax returns, any returns submitted after today will be liable to a fine.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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HMRC To Close Helplines On Fridays

 

Jim Harra confirmed to agents on Wednesday the closure of VAT and corporation tax helplines across three Fridays in February and March, giving the HMRC staff time to work through the backlog of post. 

The decision to close these phone helplines comes shortly after a successful ‘test and learn’ closure of these lines in December. Harra explained that the dedicated time to focus on post had enabled the department to clear more than 4,000 additional pieces of post each day. 

He said:

“We saw an increased productivity rate among colleagues, above our initial planning assumptions, who were able to focus on the task without stopping mid-way through to take a phone call.” 

The VAT and corporation tax phone helplines will be closed on Fridays from 25 February until 25 March, although the VAT line will be open on the 4 March to cater for the month-end deadline. 

When the phone lines were shuttered in December, HMRC received around 2,500 extra calls over the three Mondays after the Friday closures. Harra, though, said the department was still able to offer an “acceptable level of service”.

As per HMRC:

“We are temporarily closing two specialist phone lines on Fridays so we can work through our stocks of post more quickly to help us return to pre-pandemic service levels in these critical areas of work.

Temporarily closing these two phone lines was trialled in December and helped us clear more than 4,000 extra pieces of post on each day they were closed.

We understand the frustrations of customers and agents who are waiting for HMRC to get to their individual enquiry, we’re sorry that we can’t get to everyone more quickly and thank them for bearing with us.”

As I have noted before, if you want to get HMRC to action a long outstanding matter, contact your MP. There is a dedicated team (the Ministerial Correspondence Team) and email address within HMRC that deal with queries raised by MPs.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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"

Adrian Chiles Wins Tax Case Against HMRC

The TV presenter Adrian Chiles has won a seven-year battle with HMRC, and saved £400K-500K in taxes. 

HMRC claimed that he was not a freelancer when working for the BBC and ITV between 2012 and 2017, despite Mr Chiles having worked as a contractor through his own limited company since 1996. 

HMRC argued he should have paid more tax as an employee of the broadcasters, where he worked on BBC programmes such as The One Show, Match of the Day 2 and The Apprentice: You're Fired, as well as on Daybreak and as a football commentator at ITV.

HMRC said Mr Chiles owed £1.2m in income taxes and almost £500,000 in National Insurance.

The case was part of a wider crackdown on “disguised employees” who reduce their tax bills by funnelling their income through personal service companies. 

Such arrangements allow an individual to set up a company and pay themselves via a mixture of salary and dividends to save on tax, even if they do not hire any staff. 

Employees pay income tax at 20pc of earnings up to £50,270 and 40pc above, plus NI at 12pc, while contractors typically pay corporation tax at 19pc and lower NI rates of 9pc, while dividends are taxed at rates starting from 7.5pc.

However, a tribunal ruled there was “no suggestion Mr Chiles set out to avoid paying tax” through his company Basic Broadcasting Limited. 

Dave Chaplin of tax advice firm IR35 Shield is quoted by the Telegraph as saying that Mr Chiles had been the “victim of a very poorly run investigation by HMRC inspectors”.

He added: 

“The tax office has put him through the wringer, both mentally and financially, due to the massive costs of having to defend himself, despite always paying his taxes correctly.”

Despite winning the case, Mr Chiles will still have to pay his own legal fees. 

A spokesman for HMRC said the tax authority would “carefully analyse the outcome of the tribunal before considering next steps”.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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 Seize NFTs

 

HMRC has seized three Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) as part of a probe into a suspected a VAT fraud involving 250 alleged fake companies.

Three people had been arrested on suspicion of attempting to defraud it of £1.4m.

NFTs are digital assets that can be bought and sold, but which have no tangible form of their own.

The digital tokens are certificates of ownership for virtual or physical assets. NFTs have a unique digital signature so they can be bought and sold using traditional currency or crypto currency, such as Bitcoin.

HMRC said the suspects in its fraud case were alleged to have used "sophisticated methods" to try to hide their identities including false and stolen identities, false addresses, pre-paid unregistered mobile phones, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), false invoices and pretending to engage in legitimate business activities.

Nick Sharp, deputy director economic crime, said the first seizure of an NFT "serves as a warning to anyone who thinks they can use crypto assets to hide money from HMRC".

"We constantly adapt to new technology to ensure we keep pace with how criminals and evaders look to conceal their assets."

HMRC said it had secured a court order to detain the seized crypto assets worth about £5,000 and three digital artwork NFTs, which have not been valued, while its investigation continues.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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"

Investigation into The Implementation of IR35 Tax Reforms

 

The NAO have published their report into IR35 tax reforms.

They conclude:

"Rolling out the IR35 reforms to the public sector first has meant an opportunity for HMRC to learn lessons and adapt its approach. The 2017 reforms have achieved their primary purpose of reducing non-compliance and therefore increasing tax revenue. However, the public sector faced challenges with the initial roll-out: public bodies had little time to prepare; some found it difficult to use the original guidance and tool that HMRC had provided; and there was a limited understanding on all sides of how much time and resource were needed to get it right. As a result, it was highly likely that some public bodies would make mistakes.

By changing its approach, both in the public sector and when extending the reforms to the private and third sectors, HMRC appears to have learned several key lessons and addressed some of the more significant difficulties, including enabling more support and time for the transition. Questions remain about the system for addressing incorrect determinations, with routes of appeal untested and tax burdens in cases of non-compliance likely to fall on employers. There are also differences between the public and private sectors that increase the inherent challenges. HMRC faces new risks that will make it harder to identify, monitor and address non‑compliance, including larger and more complex labour markets in the private sector. HMRC will need to manage these risks if it is to ensure the reforms are successful."

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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 Increases Late Payment Interest Rates

 

HMRC are increasing their late payment interest rate from 2.75% to 3%, but are not increasing their repayment rates!

HMRC late payment and repayment interest rates

The current late payment and repayment interest rates applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC currently charges and pays interest on are:

• late payment interest rate — 3.0% from 21 February 2022
• repayment interest rate — 0.5% from 29 September 2009

HMRC interest rates are shown in the tables below.

Income Tax, National Insurance contributions, Capital Gain Tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax, Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Reserve Tax (from 1 October 1999)

From	Late payment %	Repayment %
21 February 2022	3.00	0.50
4 January 2022	2.75	0.50

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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"

Fraud Losses Inevitable

 

Jim Harra, HMRC’s chief executive, told the Treasury select committee this week that it was “inevitable” billions of pounds of Covid-19 support would be lost to fraud and error, and there was nothing the agency would have done differently during the pandemic.

Jim Harra told MPs the tax inspectorate hadn’t given up chasing down the £5.8bn it had identified as incorrectly allocated, but the number of small claims that added up to huge sums made reclaiming the money almost impossible.

“We expect to recover about £1bn.

It’s not realistic of me to expect us to reclaim all of it.” 

Harra said HMRC’s systems relied on self assessment, with little third-party checks carried out.

“We were up against a potential chilling effect on employment if we had not acted fast,” he said.

Difficult decisions were made about the controls introduced. People we would want to help would otherwise have been excluded.”

Asked if there was anything his office could have done differently, Harra said “no”. 

“Error and fraud are not acceptable, but were inevitable.

If we had the luxury of more time, we could have collected more third-party data to verify what we were told, but it wasn't realistic to do much more.”

Committee chairman Mel Stride said it was “troubling” that HMRC appeared to accept the loss of billions of pounds of public money without any admission it could have done better.

On the plus side, apparently HMRC is now back to its pre pandemic level of "customer service"!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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"

CHIEF To Run Until 2025

 

Fujitsu will keep the UK’s CHIEF customs system running until 2025, as an apparent backstop for importers and exporters that fail to meet HMRC’s March 2023 deadline for CDS migration.

Following a tip off by a Dover customs agent, The Loadstar discovered an agreement  between HMRC and Fujitsu in late 2020, renewing a deal with the software supplier for 12 applications, including the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system.

A spokesperson for HMRC told The Loadstar: 

“Entering into a five-year fixed price contract ensured HMRC could continue with a fully operational customs platform for future years.

The CHIEF contract extension was one part of a larger negotiation that covered another 12 applications Fujitsu provides on the same technology. Combining all applications into one contract and committing to a five-year term provided the best value for taxpayer money.”

News of the extension led one source to “breathe easier”, after concerns over HMRC’s ability migrate the 5,000 CHIEF users to its replacement, the Customs Declaration System (CDS).

Under HMRC deadlines, all importers are expected to be using CDS by the end of September 2022, after exporters migrated to the system by 31 March next year, a timeframe one software supplier described as “laughable”.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.

Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:

• Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
• Attend any meeting with HMRC
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
• Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly

Please click here for details.

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"