Tax Avoidance vs Tax Evasion

 

Tax avoidance and tax evasion are two terms used to describe different types of behaviour related to paying taxes.

Tax avoidance refers to the legal practice of arranging one's financial affairs in a way that minimises the amount of taxes owed. It involves using legal tax deductions, credits, and exemptions to reduce one's tax liability. Tax avoidance is considered acceptable and legal by all, except the ignorant and politicians looking for a soundbite.

Tax evasion, on the other hand, is the illegal practice of not reporting all of one's income or assets to the tax authorities in order to evade paying taxes. Tax evasion involves intentionally misrepresenting or concealing information from the tax authorities to reduce or eliminate one's tax liability. Tax evasion is illegal and can result in criminal charges and penalties.

In summary, tax avoidance is legal and involves taking advantage of legal tax deductions and exemptions to minimise one's tax liability, while tax evasion is illegal and involves intentionally failing to report income or assets to evade paying taxes.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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 accountant's (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

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Have Your Say: HMRC’s Performance Against Charter Standards

 

The ICAEW’s Tax Faculty is joining with other professional bodies to gather feedback on HMRC’s performance against standards in the HMRC Charter. Members are encouraged to complete a survey by the end of February.

The Charter Stakeholder Group has prepared a survey to obtain feedback on HMRC's performance against its Charter. 

The Charter standards are:

• getting things right;
• making things easy;
• being responsive;
• treating you fairly;
• being aware of your personal situation;
• recognising that someone can represent you; and
• keeping your data secure.

The survey results will form a key part of the group’s feedback on HMRC's performance against its Charter. This will be published in HMRC's Charter annual report. The survey should take no more than ten minutes to complete. Input is welcome from individuals, businesses and agents. The survey will run until the end of February.

A list of the Charter Stakeholder Group members and last year’s feedback is available here. ICAEW is represented by Caroline Miskin.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Market leading tax fee protection insurance for businesses, sole traders and individuals. Protect yourself from accountancy fees in the event of an HMRC enquiry.

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 accountant's (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"

Tax Investigation Insurance

 

Tax investigation insurance, also known as tax audit insurance or tax defence insurance, is a type of insurance policy that covers the costs associated with a tax audit or investigation by the tax authorities. The policy usually covers professional fees incurred in responding to a tax audit or investigation, such as accounting and legal fees, as well as other costs that may be associated with the audit, such as travel and accommodation expenses.

Tax investigation insurance is typically purchased by businesses or individuals who want to protect themselves against unexpected costs and financial losses associated with a tax audit or investigation. While the policy does not prevent a tax audit from occurring, it can help to mitigate the financial impact of an audit and provide peace of mind to the policyholder.

It's worth noting that tax investigation insurance policies may vary in terms of coverage and exclusions, so it's important to carefully review the terms and conditions of any policy before purchasing it. Additionally, some policies may have a waiting period before coverage begins, so it's important to purchase the policy well in advance of any potential tax audit or investigation.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Market leading tax fee protection insurance for businesses, sole traders and individuals. Protect yourself from accountancy fees in the event of an HMRC enquiry.

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 accountant's (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"

The Revolving Door of Failure

 

Sir Jon Thompson ex CEO of HMRC has been has been appointed to lead high-speed rail scheme HS2 - the seventh in the project's 14-year history.

Remember folks, if you want to reach the top of the civil service/state quangos etc you must be completely useless. 

Failure is rewarded!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Market leading tax fee protection insurance for businesses, sole traders and individuals. Protect yourself from accountancy fees in the event of an HMRC enquiry.

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 accountant's (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"

The Reason for The HMRC Shambles?

 

My thanks to a loyal reader for posting this comment, which may well be the main reason for the ongoing shambles in HMRC:

"And those 5500 from customer services left when they merged casework with call centres and trashed their terms and conditions in the last pay deal. These were people that knew how to work cases but we're shunted into the phones and paid just above min wage. 

There are now some tasks where no one knows how to work them as the people that did them previously have gone. You won't be told this when you ring (when the phone system works) but it is utter chaos and the bottom grades have just had enough none of this is their fault but they take the brunt every single day."

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Market leading tax fee protection insurance for businesses, sole traders and individuals. Protect yourself from accountancy fees in the event of an HMRC enquiry.

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 accountant's (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"

ICAEW Calls For Emergency Taskforce To Tackle HMRC Backlog

 

Ministers must set up a taskforce to deal with the unacceptable delays at HMRC, which are holding back the UK’s economic growth, says ICAEW.

ICAEW is calling for the immediate creation of a cross-sector taskforce to address long-standing delays at HMRC, which it says have become a drag on the UK’s economic growth.

The emergency taskforce would be charged with identifying areas for support to end delays, as well as recommending improvements to HMRC’s service standards to enable business growth, ICAEW says.

Taxpayers and accountants are having to wait up to a year for HMRC to respond to queries over the phone or by post, ICAEW says, while callers report that they have waited for more than an hour before being cut off. Customer service staffing levels at HMRC have reduced from 25,500 to 19,500 people, causing long delays for both agents and taxpayers.

These delays were the biggest area of complaint made by ICAEW members in 2022, whether relating to financial or other resource constraints. 

VAT registration for a new or growing business or re-registration where an existing business incorporates should be expected to happen quickly, the Institute says. Such businesses are growing and their administrative workload will double while they wait for HMRC to act.

ICAEW is increasingly of the view that HMRC is now trapped by its backlog and delays are now an anchor on the UK’s economic growth. The government needs to urgently tackle this issue if it is serious about building the ‘pillar of enterprise’, it says.

“The delays at HMRC are unacceptable, need to be addressed promptly and are acting as a drag on the UK’s economic growth,” ICAEW Chief Executive Michael Izza says. 

“We’re calling on ministers to set up an emergency taskforce to identify steps to eliminate HMRC’s backlog and improve its service standards, so that in the future it supports, not inhibits, business growth and maximises the tax receipts needed to fund public services.”

The taskforce should include representatives from professional bodies and from business, who would be empowered to make recommendations to HMRC to improve its services and clear its backlog, ICAEW says.

“HMRC performs a vital function supporting businesses and growth, for example ensuring new businesses can register promptly for VAT, and its work is essential in collecting tax receipts to fund public services,” Izza continues. 

“Despite this vital role and the commitment from hardworking civil servants, HMRC is often overlooked and overstretched, leading to problems, and we would be pleased to work with it to tackle these issues.”

It is unclear whether these waiting times relate to financial or other resource constraints, but the time it takes for HMRC to respond is perceived by many chartered accountants to be the single biggest obstacle to growth and tops the list of complaints by members, ICAEW says. It is a problem regardless of the means of communication being used, where intervention or action cannot be undertaken automatically.

Spoiler alert: THIS WON'T HAPPEN!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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 accountant's (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 Tries It On, and Loses!

 

In Pavan Trading Ltd, HMRC tried it on and then doubled down at the review stage.

When a business exports goods, the sale can be zero rated, but the zero rate is on the basis that the business holds evidence of export.

The taxpayer had good records and was able to produce both official and commercial evidence.

There were some anomalies in the taxpayer’s paperwork, for example, not all payments from USA customers could be identified, deliveries were not made to customers’ main addresses and the values stated on the parcels were lower than the true value.

Crucially, the HMRC officer stated the main reason for assessment was the taxpayer had not supplied HMRC with the export evidence within three months. The officer told the tribunal that had the taxpayer given the main/supplementary evidence to HMRC within three months of each export, HMRC would have accepted the export evidence for zero rating purposes.

HMRC was saying the assessment was because the taxpayer had acceptable evidence of export but that the law required the taxpayer to physically give that paperwork to HMRC within three months of each and every export.

All very nice, except for the fact the law does NOT say that!

Tribunal concluded that HMRC made two errors in law. Firstly, the three-month period for obtaining evidence does not mean the taxpayer has to provide that evidence to HMRC within three months, it simply means the taxpayer must hold the evidence in their records within three months of the transaction.

The second error was that HMRC was of the view that all the evidence of export must be contained within the CP72, ignoring established case law and HMRC’s own guidance that a basket of evidence from a variety of sources is acceptable evidence.

The tribunal concluded “This error was started by Officer Bains, perpetuated by the nonsense written by the review officer, and then compounded by HMRC’s statement of case and skeleton argument. If there was ever a counsel of perfection for the provision of export documentation, then this appellant has achieved it and we have absolutely no hesitation in allowing this appeal.”

What is clear from this case is that HMRC cannot be trusted to get things right, or even apply the law correctly!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Market leading tax fee protection insurance for businesses, sole traders and individuals. Protect yourself from accountancy fees in the event of an HMRC enquiry.

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 accountant's (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 Interest Rates for Late Payments To Be Revised

 

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee announced on 2 February 2023 to increase the Bank of England base rate to 4% from 3.5%.

HMRC interest rates are linked to the Bank of England base rate.

As a consequence of the change in the base rate, HMRC interest rates for late payment and repayment will increase.

These changes will come into effect on:

• 13 February 2023 for quarterly instalment payments
• 21 February 2023 for non-quarterly instalments payments

Information on the interest rates for payments will be updated shortly.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Market leading tax fee protection insurance for businesses, sole traders and individuals. Protect yourself from accountancy fees in the event of an HMRC enquiry.

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 accountant's (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"