HMRC Review Clears MP James McMurdock

 

All of you long-suffering taxpayers still waiting years for your own refunds, dodging phantom penalties, or getting chased for returns you’ve already filed. 

Spare a wry chuckle for James McMurdock, the MP who’s just had his tax affairs given the full once-over by HMRC; and walked away not only cleared, but with a nice little refund in his pocket.

Mr McMurdock, the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, faced intense media and public scrutiny over the past year regarding his former businesses. This included questions around past company activities and eligibility for COVID-era Bounce Back Loans. As part of this process, his tax affairs and business records underwent examination by HMRC.

In a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter), the MP described the outcome as vindication:

"The letter I recently received from HMRC confirmed, after their careful review, that they, in fact, owed me a refund."

 

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Hypocritical Wanker Alert

Celebrity antisemite Lineker, along with some other millionaires, is calling for HMRC to make them pay more tax.

All very noble you might think, except for the fact that a few years ago Lineker went into battle against a tax bill from HMRC. 

Lineker, the former England footballer and Match of the Day presenter, operated as a freelancer through his partnership, Gary Lineker Media (GLM). HMRC pursued him for around £4.9 million in alleged unpaid income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NIC) for work with the BBC and BT Sport between 2013–2014 and 2017–2018.

HMRC argued that he should be treated as an employee under IR35 (off-payroll working rules), meaning his partnership structure was an "intermediary" and he owed extra tax as if employed directly by the broadcasters. Lineker maintained he was a genuine freelancer who had paid all appropriate taxes.

Outcome

• In March 2023, the First-tier Tribunal ruled decisively in Lineker’s favour. Judge John Brooks found that because Lineker had direct contracts with the BBC and BT Sport (not routed through a qualifying intermediary in the way IR35 requires), the IR35 rules "do not, and cannot as a matter of law, apply." The tribunal set aside HMRC’s demands.
• HMRC appealed but withdrew the appeal in late 2024, shortly before an Upper Tribunal hearing, and settled the case.

Result: Lineker avoided the £4.9m bill. He confirmed he had not failed to pay any taxes or NIC due to IR35. The case turned on a technical contractual point rather than a full employment status test.

This was a notable win for Lineker after a multi-year fight and highlighted complexities in IR35 application for high-profile freelancers with direct client relationships.

Anyhoo, if he and his buddies want to pay more tax there is nothing stopping them: 

 

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HMRC Tax Investigations Taking Up To Eight Bloody Years

 

HMRC Tax Investigations Taking Up To Eight Bloody Years – MPs Slam the Taxman’s Endless Dithering

Still waiting for HMRC to get their act together?

While the taxman loves slapping you with automatic penalties for filing a day late, it turns out their own investigations can drag on for the best part of a decade.

The Public Accounts Committee has rightly slammed HMRC for cases taking up to eight years to resolve. Eight years! That’s not an investigation, that’s a slow-motion torture session for the poor sods stuck in limbo. Businesses left hanging, cashflow destroyed, growth choked, while HMRC faffs about “gathering evidence” at a pace that would make a snail look speedy.

MPs are warning that the public is being left completely in the dark about whether these long-running disputes are being settled fairly. No transparency, no accountability, just endless uncertainty. Perfect.

This is the same shambolic outfit that:

• Can’t answer the phone without putting you through an hour of Vivaldi
• Harasses 93-year-old terminally ill veterans over returns they’ve already filed
• Spends £186 million to recover £44 million on the Loan Charge
• Forces quarterly MTD reporting while their own systems remain a joke

Yet when it comes to their own enquiries (especially the big, complex ones involving serious money) they’re happy to let cases rumble on for years. Meanwhile, you’re expected to respond to their information requests in days or face penalties.

The PAC is urging HMRC to get a grip and speed things up. About bloody time someone said it. These delays aren’t just inconvenient, they’re damaging real businesses, destroying livelihoods, and eroding any remaining trust in the system.

Tax does have to be taxing.

But leaving people and companies in investigation hell for up to eight years while demanding instant compliance from everyone else? That’s not taxing, that’s bureaucratic sadism and a national disgrace.

Sort it out, HMRC. Or better yet, stop starting so many enquiries you can’t finish in a reasonable timeframe.

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HMRC’s Annual Report 2025/26

 

HMRC’s Annual Report 2025/26: Record Tax Haul, Shiny Digital Stats, But The Same Old Customer Service Shambles

HMRC has just dropped its 329-page annual report for 2025/26, and true to form, they’re out there blowing their own trumpet while the rest of us choke on the reality.

They collected a whopping £966.4 billion in tax — that’s £90.4 billion more than the previous year. Compliance yield smashed through £50 billion for the first time. Digital interactions are up to 78%. They’ve hired more compliance officers. Everything’s going swimmingly, right?

Bollocks!

Scratch beneath the glossy headlines and the strains are bleeding through everywhere. Yes, they’re raking in more cash (largely thanks to Reeves’ stealth taxes, frozen thresholds, and employer NI hikes) but the basics that actually matter to real people remain an absolute disgrace.

Customer service? Still in the toilet. They only managed to answer 85.1% of calls (one in seven went unanswered), with average wait times of over 12 minutes. They’re proudly pushing everyone towards webchats and the “highly successful” HMRC app while real human help remains a distant dream. This is the same department that hangs up on Self Assessment deadline day and harasses 93-year-old terminally ill veterans.

Tax debt sits at £44.7 billion. They’re resolving more of it, sure, but it’s still a monumental pile of unpaid tax while they chase pensioners for peanuts. The tax gap? Still hovering around £60 billion. Small businesses (the ones actually trying to grow) remain the biggest contributors to the gap — funny how that works when HMRC makes compliance such a nightmare.

R&D tax relief errors and fraud are so bad the accounts had to be qualified again. Yet they’re happy to sit on legitimate startup R&D claims for months, leaving businesses £95k out of pocket.

The transformation roadmap? More MTD misery, more AI toys (£175m with Quantexa), more digital-first bullshit while the phone lines stay broken and trust collapses. Only 70% of small businesses trust HMRC. For individuals it’s even worse, over half don’t trust them at all.

This report perfectly exposes the HMRC delusion: they’re getting better at squeezing more tax out of us, but utterly failing at basic service, fairness, and competence.

Tax does have to be taxing.

But when HMRC crows about record revenues and digital progress while the public endures endless delays, incompetence, and contempt? That’s not taxing — that’s institutional arrogance funded by your money.

Well done on the big numbers, lads. Now try answering the bloody phone.

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Monthly Tax Bills For The Self Employed - A Disaster Waiting To Happen!

 

Labour is examining plans which would require self‑employed workers and landlords to pay tax every month from April 2030, in a major shift to how millions manage their finances.

Under the proposals, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) would calculate monthly payments using an individual’s previous year’s tax return.

The reforms are expected to apply only to those earning above a threshold that has not yet been set. 

This will be a monumental clusterfuck! 

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Over 580,000 Not Yet Signed Up To MTD

 

Over 580,000 self-employed workers and landlords have yet to sign up for HMRC's Making Tax Digital for Income Tax scheme, despite less than a month remaining before the August 7 registration deadline.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that of the 864,000 people required to register for the scheme by April 6 this year, only 282,637 had signed up by May 20.

The figures, obtained by international accountancy firm Azets and confirmed by HMRC, show that around two-thirds of those required to join the new digital tax system had not yet registered when the data was compiled.

 Good luck everyone! 

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How Very Suspicious - HMRC is Meant To Be Politically Neutral!

An HMRC spokesman said: 

“We have postponed the publication to allow for the completion of a review of some of the key assumptions underpinning the estimates in the bulletin".

 

Burnham has clearly intervened!  

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How HMRC Can Stop Cash Payment Tax Evasion

 

Never let it be said that I am not helpful.

Here, courtesy of Aakash Gupta, is a simple method HMRC can employ to reduce the problem of cash payment tax evasion.

Taiwan solved tax evasion in 1951 with a trick so cheap it should embarrass every tax authority on the planet. 

The problem was an all-cash economy full of small shops. A merchant pockets the cash, skips the receipt, and the sale never existed. Auditors can't catch what was never recorded, and hiring enough of them to watch every noodle stand costs more than the missing tax. 

So finance chief Ren Xianqun flipped the incentive. Print a lottery number on every receipt. Draw winners every two months on live TV. Top prize today: NT$10 million, about $310K. 

Suddenly the customer and the shopkeeper want opposite things. The merchant wants the sale off the books. The customer wants the ticket. And there are millions more customers than merchants. 

Every transaction now carries a built-in witness demanding the paper trail. Year one, reported tax revenue jumped 75%, from NT$29 million to NT$51 million. Seventy-five years later, roughly 70% of Taiwanese still play. 

Convenience stores redeem the smallest NT$200 prizes at the register, so even a coffee receipt feels like a scratch card. The elegant part is what the audit force costs. The prize pool runs about NT$7 billion a year, roughly $20 million. In exchange, the government gets 23 million unpaid auditors working every checkout line in the country, forever. 

No inspector general on earth delivers that coverage at that price. 

Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Slovakia all copied it. The most effective compliance tool ever built looks like a game, and that's exactly why it works.

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HMRC Delays Left Start-Up £95k Out of Pocket

 

HMRC Delays Left Start-Up £95k Out of Pocket – And Choked Its Growth Stone Dead

Spare a thought (and a stiff drink) for one tech start-up founder who’s just had his company kicked squarely in the bollocks by our old friends at HMRC.

This poor sod poured his heart, soul, and savings into building a promising tech business. Like many innovative startups, he put in a legitimate claim for R&D tax credits (the very incentive the government loves to trumpet as proof they support British innovation). HMRC’s response? Sit on their hands for months on end citing a “workload problem”, leaving the company £95,000 out of pocket.

Ninety-five grand. That’s not loose change. That’s salaries, that’s server costs, that’s marketing budget, that’s the difference between scaling up and slowly suffocating. Because of HMRC’s glacial incompetence, the business is now trapped in funding limbo. Investors are wary, cashflow is strangled, and growth has been throttled.

This isn’t a one-off sob story. It’s happening to startups across the country. HMRC’s R&D tax credit crackdown, combined with their usual bureaucratic lethargy, has turned what should be a lifeline into a noose. They demand mountains of evidence, then take forever to process it, while small businesses bleed out waiting for money that’s rightfully theirs.

Meanwhile, the same department:

• Blows £175 million on flashy AI systems
• Spends £186 million to recover just £44 million on the Loan Charge
• Harasses 93-year-old terminally ill veterans
• Can’t answer the bloody phone

…yet somehow can’t process legitimate tax relief claims for the very companies this country desperately needs to grow.

This founder did everything right. He innovated. He hired people. He followed the rules, yet HMRC’s “workload problem” has rewarded him with near-death for his business. How many other promising tech firms are quietly dying in silence because some jobsworth in Newcastle can’t get their finger out?

The message from this government and its tax collectors is loud and clear: we’ll lecture you about supporting British business, then cripple you with delays, bureaucracy, and cashflow destruction.

Tax does have to be taxing.

But deliberately starving innovative start-ups of £95,000 they’re owed while the department wastes hundreds of millions elsewhere? That’s not taxing, that’s economic vandalism and outright sabotage of British entrepreneurship.

If you’re a founder waiting on an R&D claim, VAT reclaim, or any other repayment chase it hard. Because HMRC sure as hell won’t lose sleep over your business going under.

Amazon “Start-Up Founder Survival Kit” Suggestions
(affiliate links – because HMRC won’t help you)

• Industrial Strength Coffee Maker – you’ll need it during the waiting months
• “HMRC Workload Problem” Punchbag – therapeutic
• Noise-Cancelling Headphones – for when you’re on hold begging for your own money
• “Cashflow Is King” Mug – fill with something stronger than tea
• Heavy-Duty Shredder – for their next meaningless letter

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Treasury Ditched Numerical Reasoning Test For DEI

 

After the George Floyd protests, the Treasury ditched its numerical reasoning test for prospective employees because it created an adverse impact on candidate diversity. 

Did HMRC do the same? 

DEI must DIE! 

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HMRC's New AI Tool

Millions to get faster, easier access to government support with new AI tool

GOV.UK Chat is now available in the GOV.UK app – a new AI tool that lets people ask questions in plain language and get clear, reliable answers instantly. 

GOV.UK Chat – a new AI tool in the GOV.UK app – lets people ask questions in plain language and get clear, reliable answers instantly

Instead of calling a helpline or getting lost searching through 80,000 web pages, people can now access reliable government information faster

Whether it’s parents checking childcare, young people finding apprenticeships or retirees understanding their entitlements, GOV.UK Chat helps people quickly find support and save money

People across the UK can now get quick and easy help to navigate government services and save money – from information on accessing funded childcare to buying a first home and pensions – as a new AI tool launches in the GOV.UK App.

Source gov.uk 

Apparently you can ask it tax questions.

Give it a whirl, and let us know what you think.

I would caution you not to make any tax decisions based on what it tells you though! 

 

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HMRC’s Latest Student Loan Balls-Up

 

HMRC’s Latest Student Loan Balls-Up: 30,000 Graduates Overcharged Thanks to Taxman’s Glitches

Morning, you poor graduates still paying off your student loans while wondering why the hell you bothered going to university in the first place. Just when you thought HMRC couldn’t cock things up any more spectacularly, they’ve gone and done it again.

The taxman, in partnership with the Student Loans Company, has admitted that over 30,000 graduates have been overcharged on their Plan 2 student loans due to errors in how earnings data was recorded and interest was calculated. Another 41,000 were undercharged, making a grand total of around 71,000 affected borrowers. These cock-ups stretch back years — some were first spotted in 2022 — yet only now are they finally sorting it.

The mistakes involve incorrect income reporting (especially where people had both PAYE and self-assessment income) and technical glitches in how interest rates were applied. Result? Thousands of graduates have been repaying more than they should have for years. HMRC and SLC say they’ll automatically correct the balances and issue refunds where overpayments occurred. No compensation, of course — just “sorry, here’s your money back… eventually.”

This is the same shambolic organisation that:

• Can’t answer the phone without an hour of hold music
• Harasses 93-year-old terminally ill veterans over returns they’ve already filed
• Spends £186 million to recover £44 million on the Loan Charge
• Forces accountants to stop using automation because their own APIs are useless

…yet somehow they’re trusted to accurately track earnings and calculate student loan repayments for hundreds of thousands of young people.

Graduates already face frozen repayment thresholds, massive debt, and the feeling they’ve been sold a pup by the higher education system. Now HMRC quietly admits it’s been taking too much of their money for years. Brilliant.

This isn’t just incompetence — it’s systemic failure. While they blow hundreds of millions on flashy AI systems and hire valuation officers for the mansion tax raid, they can’t even get basic earnings data right for student loan deductions.

Tax does have to be taxing.
But overcharging 30,000 graduates for years on their student loans due to avoidable errors, then shrugging and saying “we’ll fix it eventually”? That’s not taxing — that’s theft by incompetence, plain and simple.

Check your statements, graduates. And if you’ve been overcharged, make sure you get every penny back. Because with HMRC, if you don’t chase it, they’ll happily keep it.

Amazon “Graduate Loan Victim Survival Kit” Suggestions
(affiliate links – because you’re already skint)

• Large Calculator – for checking HMRC’s dodgy maths
• “Overcharged by HMRC” Mug – morning coffee of righteous anger
• Noise-Cancelling Headphones – for when you ring them (good luck)
• Heavy-Duty Shredder – for their next threatening letter
• Strong Drink – you’ve earned it

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 Screen-Scraping Crackdown

 

HMRC's Screen-Scraping Crackdown: Accountants Get Threatened With Access Block Because HMRC's Own Systems Are Still Shite

Greetings, you poor accountants and bookkeepers already drowning in quarterly MTD bollocks, endless client queries, and HMRC's legendary incompetence. Just when you thought the taxman couldn't make your life any more miserable, they've decided to kick you squarely in the automation.

HMRC has ramped up its war on screen-scraping and browser automation tools that accountants have been using to actually get work done. In an updated policy paper, they've made it crystal clear: using any form of screen scraping, robotic process automation, or browser automation to access client data via agent accounts is prohibited. Get caught? They’ll block your entire Agent Services Account (ASA), meaning you lose access to all your clients’ HMRC data in one fell swoop.

Why are accountants resorting to these tools in the first place? Because HMRC’s own digital services are still a complete and utter shambles. Their APIs are limited, clunky, unreliable, and don’t cover everything accountants need to do efficiently for clients. So firms turned to automation to plug the massive gaps left by HMRC’s half-arsed “digital transformation”. Now HMRC is punishing them for it.

This is classic HMRC hypocrisy on steroids:

• They can’t build proper, reliable APIs that actually work for the profession.
• They spend £175 million on flashy AI from Quantexa while basic agent access remains painful.
• They force everyone into Making Tax Digital and quarterly reporting.
• Then they throw their toys out of the pram when accountants find clever ways to work around the department’s own incompetence.

Accountants aren’t doing this for fun — they’re doing it to save time, reduce errors, and actually provide a decent service to clients. Now they face the very real risk of suddenly being locked out of the system they rely on daily. Brilliant.

This crackdown is yet another example of HMRC’s “do as I say, not as I do” attitude. They demand flawless digital compliance from everyone else while their own systems remain stuck somewhere between 2005 and total chaos.

Tax does have to be taxing.
But deliberately making accountants’ lives harder because you can’t be arsed to build proper tools, then threatening to lock them out when they improvise? That’s not taxing — that’s petty, obstructive, and typical HMRC bullying.

Sort your own house out before you start smashing everyone else’s tools.

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Money Laundering Red Flag

 

The question here is it only the cab company that looks dodgy, or the council as well?

Over to you HMRC!

Source. 

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HMRC Boss Behind Customer Service Meltdowns Gets Gongs

 

HMRC Boss Behind Customer Service Meltdowns Gets Gongs – Angela MacDonald Made Companion of the Order of the Bath

Morning, you poor battered taxpayers still stuck on endless hold, waiting years for refunds, getting chased for returns you’ve already sent, and drowning in quarterly MTD shite. While you’re struggling just to get basic service, HMRC’s top brass are busy polishing their medals.

In the King’s Birthday Honours 2026, Angela MacDonald — Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary at HMRC — has been made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. That’s right. The woman who has presided over some of the worst customer service disasters in HMRC’s long and inglorious history is being rewarded with one of the highest honours in the land.

This is the same Angela MacDonald who, as Director General of Customer Services and then Deputy Chief Executive, has overseen:

• Record helpline waiting times (often over an hour)
• Phone lines slammed shut on Self Assessment deadline day
• Massive backlogs and two-year refund delays
• Pensioners (including terminally ill veterans) being harassed over returns they’ve already filed
• A general collapse in basic competence while the department demands perfection from the rest of us

Public dissatisfaction with HMRC has been climbing for years, according to government figures. No wonder. Yet instead of being held accountable, she gets a fancy title and a nice ribbon.

This is classic Civil Service failure culture at its finest: bugger up spectacularly, preside over chaos, then get promoted and honoured for “services to public administration.” Meanwhile, the little people get penalty points, £100 fines for filing a day late, and threatening letters that arrive like clockwork.

MacDonald joined HMRC in 2017 and has been deeply involved in operations and customer service transformation ever since. Transformation? The only thing that’s been transformed is the level of public fury.

While they blow £175 million on AI toys, spend £186m to recover £44m on the Loan Charge, and hire 1,000 valuation officers to raid nice houses, the basics remain an absolute disgrace. And the person in charge of a big chunk of that mess gets a gong.

Tax does have to be taxing.
But rewarding the architects of HMRC’s customer service meltdown with royal honours while ordinary taxpayers — especially the elderly and vulnerable — are treated like dirt? That’s not taxing. That’s a national insult and a damning indictment of the whole rotten system.

Well done, Angela. Enjoy the honour. The rest of us will enjoy another year of hold music and brown envelopes.

HMRC Is Shite, Angela MacDonald honour, King's Birthday Honours farce, customer service meltdown, Companion of the Order of the Bath, HMRC incompetence rewarded, taxpayer contempt, Tax does have to be taxing

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93-Year-Old Royal Navy Veteran Harassed by HMRC

 

93-Year-Old Terminally Ill Royal Navy Veteran Harassed by HMRC Over a Return He’s Already Filed – This is Utterly Disgraceful

Greetings, you decent, hard working folk who’ve paid your dues all your lives and just want to be left in peace. If you thought HMRC had scraped the bottom of the barrel with their cruelty, they’ve just gone and smashed right through it.

A 93-year-old widower, a proud Royal Navy veteran, and now terminally ill, has written to the Telegraph in despair. He is being relentlessly harassed by HMRC for a Self Assessment tax return he already completed and submitted.

After filing his 2024-25 return in May 2025, he received a letter claiming he hadn’t submitted one for the 2023-24 tax year. He complained, provided proof, and thought that was the end of it. It wasn’t. The threatening letters keep coming. The stress is giving this dying old man sleepless nights in what should be his final, peaceful months.

This isn’t a one-off admin glitch. This is systemic incompetence combined with institutional heartlessness. A man who served his country in the Royal Navy during some of the most dangerous periods of the 20th century is now being tormented by pen-pushers in Newcastle who can’t even keep track of a simple tax return they’ve already received.

Meanwhile, the same department:

• Spends £186 million trying to recover just £44 million on the Loan Charge
• Hangs up the phones on Self Assessment deadline day
• Forces quarterly MTD reporting on struggling self-employed people
• Blows £175 million on flashy AI systems while the basics remain a total shambles

But sure, let’s terrorise a 93-year-old terminally ill veteran who owes them nothing.

This story should make every single person in Britain furious. We expect our tax authority to be efficient and firm when needed. We do not expect them to behave like bullying bailiffs toward elderly, dying heroes who’ve already done everything asked of them.

The sheer lack of basic humanity here is staggering. A man facing the end of his life should not be losing sleep because some incompetent jobsworth at HMRC can’t find a return on their broken system.

Tax does have to be taxing.

But hounding a 93-year-old terminally ill Royal Navy veteran who’s already filed his return? That’s not taxing — that’s cruel, callous, and utterly contemptible.

HMRC should be ashamed of themselves. And heads should roll.

 

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HMRC Calls Top Tax Barrister ‘Mr Bridger’ in Italian Job Jibe

HMRC Calls Top Tax Barrister ‘Mr Bridger’ in Italian Job Jibe – Unprofessional Clowns Exposed in Court

Hello, you long-suffering taxpayers still waiting on hold, getting chased for trivial bills, or drowning in quarterly MTD bollocks. While HMRC demands absolute perfection from the rest of us — or else automatic penalties and points — it turns out their own staff are behaving like giggling schoolboys in the middle of serious tax litigation.

In open court, it has emerged that HMRC officials were referring to a leading tax barrister as “Mr Bridger” — a snide little reference to the flamboyant, upper-class character played by Noël Coward in the 1969 classic The Italian Job. You know, the posh criminal mastermind with the dodgy schemes. How very professional.

This wasn’t some private WhatsApp between mates. It came out in courtroom exchanges, revealing that senior HMRC people had been using childish, mocking nicknames for top tax counsel. The barrister in question is one of the most respected in the country, regularly going toe-to-toe with the taxman on complex avoidance, evasion, and compliance cases. And HMRC’s response? Treat him like a figure of fun.

Let’s be crystal clear: these are the same people who will hammer you with £100 fines for filing a day late, pursue pensioners for £47 underpayments, and expect grovelling compliance while they can’t answer their own phones. But when facing proper legal opposition, they resort to playground insults and unprofessional nicknames.

This isn’t just embarrassing — it’s symptomatic of a deep-seated culture of arrogance and contempt at HMRC. They demand respect and instant obedience from the public while showing none themselves. They lose £186m trying to recover £44m on the Loan Charge, cock up pension tax calculations left right and centre, and then act like petulant children when challenged by someone who actually knows the law.

The judge wasn’t impressed either, with references to the behaviour being “unprofessional”. No surprise there.

This is the same department that’s hiring 1,000 valuation officers for the mansion tax raid, forcing AI surveillance on us for £175m, and rolling out quarterly digital reporting while their own service remains an absolute disgrace.

Tax does have to be taxing.
But when HMRC staff are using Italian Job nicknames to mock top barristers in official tax disputes, while treating ordinary taxpayers like criminals? That’s not taxing — that’s arrogant, juvenile, and completely out of control.

Sort yourselves out, you shower.

Amazon “HMRC Unprofessional Behaviour Survival Kit” Suggestions
(affiliate links – because you’ll need these after dealing with these clowns)

• “Mr Bridger” DVD (The Italian Job) – for when you need a proper laugh at their expense
• “Unprofessional” Mug – fill it with something strong
• Noise-Cancelling Headphones – drown out their hold music and their nonsense
• Heavy-Duty Shredder – perfect for their next threatening letter
• Stress Ball – squeeze it while imagining HMRC’s top brass

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 Nice Little Video - Feel Free To Express Your Views!

What are the three things the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, @Dan4Barnet, wants you to know about us? 🤔

First up is how we’re making it easier than ever to get the help and support with your tax affairs.

From the HMRC app to improved online services, we’re focused on… pic.twitter.com/Pe6hpKznuc

— HM Revenue & Customs (@HMRCgovuk) June 4, 2026

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 "Nice Pub Tax"

 

HMRC's "Nice Pub Tax": Punishing the Best Pubs for Having a Nice View and a Decent Garden – Absolute Madness

Morning, you thirsty taxpayers and pub lovers. Just when you thought Rachel Reeves and HMRC couldn’t get any more spiteful, they’ve come up with the "Nice Pub Tax" – a brand new way to hammer the very pubs that are actually doing well, investing in their business, and giving the rest of us somewhere decent to have a pint.

Under fresh guidance issued for the 2026 business rates revaluation, HMRC’s valuation officers have been told to crank up the rateable value (and therefore the business rates bill) on pubs that dare to be in “attractive locations”, have a river frontage, a nice view, character properties, big beer gardens, playgrounds, car parks, or serve premium-priced food. In other words: if your pub isn’t a rundown dive in a grim backstreet, you’re getting punished for it.

The Tories have rightly christened it the “Nice Pub Tax”, and they’re spot on. Instead of helping the struggling British pub industry (which has lost hundreds of boozers already this year), Labour and their HMRC stormtroopers have decided to reward failure and penalise success. A proper country inn with a scenic garden that pulls in families at weekends? Slap it with a bigger bill. A characterful old coaching house by the river? Tax it harder. A gastro pub that’s actually invested in decent grub? Make ’em pay for their ambition.

This is spiteful, backwards, and economically illiterate. Pubs in nice locations already face higher rents and running costs. Now HMRC wants to add even more pain through inflated business rates. It’s the same class-war envy we’ve seen with the mansion tax coming down the track – if it’s nice, aspirational, or successful, Reeves and her cronies want their cut.

Meanwhile, the same department can’t answer the phone, takes years to process refunds, spends £186m to recover £44m on the Loan Charge, and is forcing self-employed people into quarterly MTD reporting hell. But sure, let’s prioritise sending valuation officers out to measure how nice the view is from the beer garden.

Tax does have to be taxing.

But deliberately hammering the best pubs in Britain because they’re in attractive spots with nice gardens and decent facilities? That’s not taxing – that’s economic self-harm dressed up as “fair” revaluation.

Enjoy your pint while you still can, folks. Because at this rate, the only pubs left standing will be the grotty ones that nobody wants to drink in anyway.

Amazon "Nice Pub Tax Survival Kit" Suggestions
(affiliate links – because drowning your sorrows is now more expensive)

• Pint Glass Set – for drinking at home when the local nice pub closes
• "Save Our Pubs" Bar Mat – subtle protest accessory
• Noise-Cancelling Headphones – to block out Reeves’ nonsense
• Heavy-Duty Shredder – for the latest business rates bill
• Proper Real Ale Selection – support the industry while you still can

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"

Vape Shops Galore are Licensed Visa Sponsors

 

🇬🇧 There are 79 vape shops on the Home Office’s public register of licensed visa sponsors.

‘Guardian Vapes Ltd’ in South Shields is licensed to sponsor overseas workers via the ‘Skilled Worker Visa’ route. 🧵1/3 pic.twitter.com/7BDL047ZjE

— The Procurement Files (@procurementfile) May 28, 2026

Here is the government link to the full list. 

Does this not possibly represent an AML flag?

Maybe someone in HMRC should be taking a look at this? 

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 Blows £175m on Fancy AI Toy from Quantexa

 

HMRC Blows £175m on Fancy AI Toy from Quantexa – Because Nothing Says “We’ve Fixed Customer Service” Like Another Expensive Tech Fantasy

Morning, you long-suffering taxpayers still stuck on hold for an hour, waiting two years for a refund, or filling in quarterly MTD returns while HMRC’s own staff take half a million sick days.

In their latest act of breathtaking delusion, HM Revenue and Customs has just signed a 10-year, £175 million deal with British tech firm Quantexa. That’s £17.5 million a year of your money going on some AI-powered wizardry that’s supposedly going to magically transform the taxman from a national embarrassment into a sleek, efficient machine.

Quantexa’s system will hoover up HMRC’s data, mix it with external sources, and then – allegedly – help spot fraud, hidden company networks, and even “fix unintentional errors” faster. It’ll also supposedly assist customer service staff. Yes, the same customer service that’s been in freefall for years.

Let me translate the corporate bollocks into plain English:

HMRC admits their performance is so dire that public dissatisfaction is rising, so instead of fixing the basics — answering the bloody phone, processing refunds in less than 18 months, or stopping phantom £2.8 billion demands to corner shops — they’ve decided to throw £175 million at an AI system.

This is classic HMRC behaviour. Their IT track record is legendary for all the wrong reasons (remember Fujitsu? Horizon? The endless MTD delays?). Now they’re banking on AI to do what competent management and proper staffing have failed to do for over a decade.

Here’s what this shiny new toy will actually be brilliant at:

• Finding more ways to hammer small businesses and self-employed people for minor errors
• Spotting “suspicious” expense claims from sole traders earning £60k
• Building even bigger databases on every one of us
• Generating more automated penalty points

And here’s what it almost certainly won’t fix:

• The hour-long hold music torture
• Two-year refund delays
• Deadline day phone hang-ups
• Pension tax calculation cock-ups
• Trivial £47 demands to pensioners

£175 million. That’s enough to answer the phones properly for years. Enough to sort the backlog. Enough to give decent service to the people who actually pay their wages. Instead, it’s going on another grand “digital transformation” project that will probably end up costing double and delivering half while some consultants laugh all the way to the bank.

This is what happens when a failing organisation refuses to admit the problem is management, culture, and accountability — not lack of fancy tech.

Tax does have to be taxing.
But when HMRC spends £175 million on AI to “improve performance” while the basics remain an absolute disgrace, it’s not taxing — it’s institutional denial on an industrial scale.

Well done, JP Marks and the rest of the gang. Another shiny toy to play with while the public seethes.

Amazon “HMRC AI Overlords Survival Kit” Suggestions
(affiliate links – because you’ll need these while the robots come for your records)

• Tinfoil Hat – protect yourself from the all-seeing AI
• “Another £175m Down the Drain” Mug – morning tea essential
• Noise-Cancelling Headphones – for the inevitable longer hold times
• Heavy-Duty Shredder – in case the AI gets too nosey
• Strong Whisky – medicinal, after reading your next tax calculation

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"

Working From Home

 

 

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 Rules That Deployment of a Reservist To Ukraine Constituted a "Break"

 

Excl: An Army reservist who served on a Ukraine mission was denied paternity pay after HMRC ruled his deployment counted as a “break” from work.

The soldier returned home, went back to work and became a dad weeks later - only to be told he wasn’t entitled to a penny.…

— Martina Bet (@martinabettt) May 25, 2026

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"

Rachel's Summertime Specials

 

Now that Rachel is dishing out VAT discounts on kids' meals, I assume a task force will be set up in HMRC to produce reams of documents analysing exactly what a kid's meal is?

Good luck with that then!

Oh, and although Rachel trumpeted this, she hasn't been so vocal about plans to whack 20% on various airport charges over the summertime! 

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"

FACTOID Re The BMW FOI

I know the name of the person who raised the BMW FOI and followed up on it, let me be 100% clear it was not whoever it is going under the moniker "Exposing The Corrupt". 

Thank you for your attention in this matter. 

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"

People Smuggling Under The Very Noses of HMRC

 

This report from the BBC (see extract below) highlights large cash payments being made in highstreet shops for smuggling illegals into the UK, these payments are meant to be picked up by HMRC as part of their AML monitoring procedures.

HMRC supervises many "high-risk" businesses for AML compliance, including money service businesses (MSBs), informal value transfer systems (like hawala-style operations), high-cash businesses (car washes, phone shops, wholesalers), and others. These are exactly the types of entities named in the BBC report.

Wake up guys! 

People smugglers are directing migrants to pay for illegal Channel crossings using a network of UK-registered businesses, a BBC investigation has found.

We secretly filmed staff at a shop in south-east London telling an undercover researcher that nearly £3,000 in cash could be deposited with them and sent to a smuggler in France.

"You put your money here. If your friends reach [the UK], you shouldn't come back," we were told at the mobile phone store in Woolwich.

Our three-month investigation gives insight into how smugglers appear to be using UK companies' bank accounts to facilitate small-boat crossings - something a leading expert in criminal finance told us he had not seen before.

Our findings suggest a "brazen attitude" by smugglers, says Tom Keatinge, from the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) security think tank.

"It is a concern that... people feel sufficiently confident they can be out in the open."

As well as the phone shop, the smuggler in France provided the bank account details of two UK-registered companies, which he said could both take electronic transfers for migrant crossings.

One is a wholesale business in Newcastle upon Tyne, the other is a car wash in Cambridgeshire.

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 Oncoming Pension Clusterfuck

 

HMRC issues inheritance tax update ahead of 'nightmare' raid on pension savingshttps://t.co/dkyzsyzH6x

— GB News (@GBNEWS) May 16, 2026

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"

Rayner's VIP Hotline

 

Whilst Rayner made full use of a VIP hotline (for royalty and high rankers) to expedite her tax cock up, the rest of use have to put up with this shit:

After 39 minutes on hold I have got through to HMRC to talk about erroneous interest charge on my self assesement. I can hear a baby in the background. After she spent 22 mins investigating, I was advised to write in as she couldn't help.
This is simply not good enough.

— Paul Hawkins (@Hawkeye_74) May 14, 2026

 

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"

Rayner Exonerated by HMRC in 7 Months!

 

On 1 April I stated:

"Figures from HMRC show that in the last four years the average length of time that Stamp Duty Land tax (SDLT) investigations have taken to complete is an average of 35 months. Rayner admitted she may have paid the wrong tax on 5 September last year, only seven months ago…"

This morning, Pippa Crerar (a political activist posing as a Guardian journalist) broke the news that Rayner has paid the £40K tax due and has been exonerated by HMRC of any wrong doing and was not "careless".

Tax experts, eg Dan Neidle, are having trouble believing this. 

Disregarding whether she was "careless" or not, I am having serious trouble believing that a case that would normally take HMRC 35 months to investigate, has been sorted out in 7 months.

Ordinary taxpayers would not receive such swift service!

Please can someone in HMRC explain how it is that Rayner (on the very day there may be a leadership challenge) has received clearance from HMRC so quickly? 

BTW, Rayner has been able to find this £40K because she has just been paid £50K by a newly formed company Refrigeration House Ltd for "staff costs".

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 Latest Pension Tax Cock-Up

 

HMRC's Latest Pension Tax Cock-Up: They’ve Been Overcharging Pensioners – And Now You’re Expected to Fix Their Shambles

Morning, you long-suffering pensioners and semi-retired warriors who dared to think that after a lifetime of paying tax, HMRC might finally leave you in peace. Think again.

A sharp-eyed investigator has uncovered yet another system error at HMRC that means thousands of pensioners have been overcharged on their state pension tax. The cock-up revolves around how the taxman calculates your taxable pension income when the state pension rises mid-year (thanks to the triple lock).

According to HMRC’s own daft guidance, they’ve been taxing people on the wrong split – one week at the old rate and 51 weeks at the new rate – instead of properly apportioning it across the year. The result? Pensioners paying too much tax, sometimes by thousands of pounds each. And these are the same clowns who demand you get your self-assessment perfect first time or face automatic penalties.

This isn’t some minor glitch. HMRC has already been forced to repay tens of millions in overpaid pension tax in recent quarters alone, with average refunds topping £3,000 in some cases. Yet here we are again, with another error quietly exposed that could be costing you hundreds or thousands extra.

Why This Matters to You

• If you receive the state pension and file a Self Assessment (even if only because of small private work, rental income, or other bits), check your latest return.
• The error hits hardest when the pension increased during the tax year.
• Many pensioners who thought their tax was sorted via PAYE are discovering they’ve been overtaxed when they file SA.

HMRC, of course, won’t be proactively contacting everyone affected. That would require competence. Instead, they expect you – the pensioner who’s already confused by their Byzantine system – to go digging through your returns, spot their mistake, and claim back what’s rightfully yours.

This is the same organisation that:

• Spends £186m to recover £44m on the Loan Charge
• Hangs up on deadline day
• Hires 1,000 valuation officers for the mansion tax raid
• Can’t answer the phone without putting you through an hour of torture

…yet somehow can’t get basic pension tax calculations right.

What You Should Do Right Now

1. Dig out your most recent Self Assessment return (or the tax calculation notice HMRC sent you).
2. Compare the state pension figure they used against what you actually received.
3. If it looks wrong, contact HMRC (good luck with that) or use the proper overpayment claim route (P53Z or whatever their latest form is this week).
4. Keep records – six years, as usual, because they sure as hell won’t.

Tax does have to be taxing.

But when HMRC can’t even calculate the tax on the state pension correctly, then expects you to fix their mess while they overcharge thousands of pensioners? That’s not taxing – that’s institutional robbery dressed up as administration.

Sort it out, check your returns, and reclaim what these clowns have stolen from you. Because if you don’t, they’ll happily keep it.

Amazon "Pensioner Tax Fight Survival Kit" Suggestions
(affiliate links – because you’ll need fuel for this battle)

• Large Print Calculator – for checking HMRC’s dodgy maths
• "HMRC Overcharged Me Again" Mug – perfect for your morning tea of righteous anger
• Noise-Cancelling Headphones – for when you finally get through on the helpline
• Heavy-Duty Shredder – therapeutic use only on their letters
• Bottle of Something Strong – medicinal purposes after dealing with their incompetence

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"

Rayner's Desperate Attempts To Publicly Pay Her Tax Bill

 

It seems that Angela Rayner’s team ‘constantly’ contacted HMRC in the weeks before local elections, to settle her £40k stamp duty bill; if "sources" to the media are to be believed. 

The calls were made in an attempt to resolve the outstanding £40,000 stamp duty she owes on her Hove flat. 

Sources (hers by any chance?0 say her team reached out “constantly” during that period. An interesting approach, given that people can volunteer to pay HMRC tax anytime they want to.

Timing, and publicising these "constant" attempts, is everything!

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"

Jacob Rees-Mogg Opines on Working From Home and HMRC

 

 

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 4,000 Drive-By Logins

 

The Telegraph reports that civil servants (including HMRC) have been faking their attendance at the office.

Some staff, including at HMRC, are alleged to have faked in-person working by connecting to their office Wi-Fi from a nearby car park before returning home.

The phenomenon has become so commonplace that senior managers at the tax office dub it a “drive-by login”.

Just under 4,000 HMRC staff haven't been in the office at all for over 6 months. Just under 1,000 haven't been in for over a YEAR. 

An HMRC official told of how office working had collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not recovered since.

He said “a lot of bad habits” were formed during Covid, adding: “You can go years at a time without seeing certain colleagues.”

Analysis of working patterns at HMRC revealed that 3,195 of its workers had not been in an office for between six and 11 months, with 992 not attending for a year to 23 months. There were 182 workers who did not go to work in-person for two years or more.

HMRC said some of the absences were caused by sickness leave or an adjustment to working patterns for staff with disabilities. The department employs more than 70,500 people.

HMRC has also been accused of allowing customer service levels to collapse. Last year, a report by MPs found that almost 44,000 taxpayers were cut off after being on hold for over an hour with HMRC call handlers. 

 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 £186m Masterclass in Incompetence

 

HMRC's £186m Masterclass in Incompetence: They Spent a Fortune to Claw Back Just £44m on the Loan Charge – Absolute Shambles

Morning, you hard-pressed taxpayers still waiting years for a refund, getting hung up on deadline day, or being chased for trivial £50 bills while HMRC's own staff rack up half a million sick days. Here's a story that sums up everything wrong with the taxman in one jaw-dropping number.

Fresh figures reveal that HMRC has blown £186 million of your money over six years trying to enforce the controversial Loan Charge on disguised remuneration schemes. And what have they actually recovered from individual settlements? A pathetic £44 million.

That's right – they spent £186m to get back £44m. For every pound recovered from those 800 individuals who settled, they burned over £4.22. Even if you take their broader claim of £250m in total settlements (including employers), it's still a catastrophic return on investment. Annual compliance costs have hit £31 million in recent years. This isn't enforcement; it's a black hole with better PR.

The Loan Charge was meant to hammer people who used "disguised pay" schemes – where contractors and others were paid via loans that never got repaid, dodging income tax and NI. Fair enough in principle if it was pure avoidance. But the way HMRC and the government handled it has been a textbook case of retrospective overreach, ruining lives, driving some to suicide, and now proving to be an expensive, inefficient disaster.

MPs and campaigners are calling it a "profound failure". No wonder. While HMRC was pouring millions into this crackdown, they couldn't answer phones, process refunds, or stop issuing phantom £2.8 billion demands to small businesses. They let their own compliance officer launder £3.3m and walk with a suspended sentence, but ordinary folk caught in these schemes got the full weight of retrospective legislation and aggressive pursuit.

And don't forget the human cost – families destroyed, bankruptcies, mental health crises – all while the taxman racks up costs that could have funded proper helplines or actual customer service instead of this botched vendetta.

This is peak HMRC: incompetent, wasteful, and utterly contemptuous of value for money. They demand perfection and instant compliance from us (with penalty points and automatic fines), yet when they go after a target, they manage to lose money hand over fist. £186m spent to recover £44m? That's not closing the tax gap – that's widening the incompetence gap to Olympic proportions.

Rachel Reeves and her mandarins love lecturing about "fairness" and "closing loopholes", but when their own enforcement machine turns into the world's most expensive paper-shredder, the only people getting fairly screwed are the long-suffering British taxpayer.

Tax does have to be taxing.
But when HMRC spends £186 million to claw back £44 million while the rest of us drown in red tape and MTD quarterly reporting hell? That's not taxing – that's institutional theft and breathtaking incompetence on a grand scale.

Amazon "HMRC Waste Survival Kit" Suggestions
(affiliate links – because watching them burn your money deserves a stiff drink)

• Giant Calculator – to work out how much they're wasting this week
• "£186m Down the Drain" Mug – fill with something stronger than tea
• Industrial Shredder – ironic tribute to their efficiency
• Stress Ball (Taxman Shape) – squeeze until the next scandal breaks
• "Value for Money?" T-shirt – wear it to your next tribunal

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"