Black Market In Cigarettes Flourishing

 

As per Guido:

"The illegal tobacco trade is rife in Britain. This week a Romford shop was shuttered for after officers uncovered an £8,000 stash, traders in Grimsby were found with £12,500 worth of illicit stock and three stores in the North East selling illicit tobacco and illegal vapes have been closed down by Sunderland City Council. Nationally, Operation CeCe has stripped 33 million illegal cigarettes and 800kg of hand-rolling tobacco from shelves in the last year, with a street value of nearly £24 million…

Yet HMRC claims the black market is shrinking. Its latest estimates put the tobacco tax gap at just 14.2% in 2024/25, supposedly the latest step in a two-decade decline. HMRC’s own methodology admits the 2024/25 figures aren’t measured at all – they’re projections, produced because of incomplete data and resource constraints. The way HMRC defines the ‘tax gap’ is essentially an educated guess. It’s about as scientific as asking someone how many pints they have in a week…

There’s one easy way to work it out. Cancer Research UK estimates smokers got through 28 billion cigarettes in 2024, while HMRC records show only 14 billion cigarettes were cleared for legal sale in the same period. That means around 14 billion missing cigarettes and billions of pounds in Exchequer revenue going straight into the pockets of organised crime. A recent UCL study found 23.1% of smokers in 2025 had bought illicit cigarettes in the last six months, up from 12.2% in 2023. Test purchasing found 54% of independent retailers visited in Makerfield are selling illegal tobacco. If more than half the corner shops in Burnham’s own backyard are flogging illicit fags, HMRC’s estimate is up in smoke…"

This is what happens when governments overtax a product or service, people will use the black market! 

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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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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

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Jacob Rees-Mogg Opines on Working From Home and HMRC

 

 

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The Costs of New MTD Rules Ignored by HMRC

 

HMRC has failed to do any assessment of the tax loss that will result from people quitting work as a result of the new MTD rules which require 5 tax returns a year. 

 If just 1% of self-employed taxpayers with turnovers above £20k cease working there will be a direct tax loss of £75m & an indirect loss - from VAT, indirect taxes, & knock-on effects on the wider economy - of another £150m. And that estimate excludes anyone from the top 10% of self-employed taxpayers.

Source 

There is an opt out if you claim religious beliefs prevent you from filing online. 

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Pulling a Sickie - HMRC Days Off 2025

 

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HMRC’s Hated Digital Regime Lies in Ruins: Only 4% of Taxpayers Have Signed Up – And the Taxman Is Panicking

Listen up, fellow sufferers of the UK tax racket. While you were busy trying to keep your business afloat, HMRC quietly dropped a bombshell to the Public Accounts Committee: just 18,000 poor sods had bothered to sign up for their shiny new Making Tax Digital (MTD) income tax regime. That’s a pathetic 3.8% of the 864,000 self-employed souls and landlords they’re targeting from 6 April 2026.

HMRC have since briefed the press that the number has “risen” to 30,000. Thirty thousand. Out of nearly three-quarters of a million. That’s still only about 4%. Four percent! The rest of you – the sane 96% – are apparently too busy running actual businesses to play happy families with the taxman’s latest digital leash.

This isn’t a “slow start”. This is outright rejection.

What Exactly Is This Hated Regime?

For those still blissfully unaware (lucky you), MTD for Income Tax means the end of the simple annual Self Assessment for anyone pulling in more than £50,000 from self-employment or property income (based on your 2024/25 return). From April:

• You must keep digital records – no more scruffy spreadsheets or shoeboxes.
• You must file quarterly updates – four times a year, not once.
• You must use only HMRC-approved software that talks directly to their system.
• Then, of course, the usual end-of-year declaration to tie it all up with a nice little bow of extra admin.

HMRC have been bombarding people with letters, running “voluntary” testing (where 20,000-odd quarterly updates have apparently been submitted), and telling everyone it’s “straightforward” and “helps reduce errors”. Translation: “Please just roll over and make our lives easier while we make yours a living nightmare.”

The Cost? Your Time, Your Money, and Your Sanity

HMRC’s own figures admit an average one-off hit of £280–£350 to get set up, plus £110–£115 every year thereafter. That’s the official lowball. In reality, plenty of sole traders and landlords who currently DIY their tax will now be forced to shell out for proper software subscriptions – some “free” versions come with heavy restrictions, others will cheerfully sting you for hundreds a year.

And for what? So HMRC can watch your income and expenses in real time, like some creepy Big Brother with a calculator. Quarterly reporting doesn’t make tax simpler – it makes compliance four times more painful. It’s not about accuracy; it’s about control. Easier audits, faster penalties, more data to feed their risk engines.

Remember, this is the same HMRC that has form for multi-billion-pound IT disasters. The same department that can’t even answer the phone without putting you on hold for three weeks. And now they expect 864,000 of Britain’s hardest-working people – the ones actually creating jobs and paying the bills – to trust them with yet another half-baked digital fantasy?

The Taxman’s Spin Is Laughable

Their latest press release bleats that “thousands of sole traders and landlords have already joined” and “more than 20,000 quarterly updates” have been submitted in testing.

Well, congratulations. Out of 864,000 targeted, you’ve managed to persuade roughly the population of a small village. The rest of us have seen through the con. We’ve read the small print. We’ve seen the petitions racking up signatures demanding this nonsense is stopped. We know that “no immediate fines” in the first year is just code for “we’ll fine you later, once we’ve got you hooked”.

This Is Taxpayer Rebellion in Action – But If You Must Comply, Here’s the Least-Worst Kit

Only 4% uptake with weeks to go until the supposed launch? That’s not teething trouble. That’s a full-scale revolt by people who’ve had enough of being treated like cash machines with legs.

The self-employed and landlords already shoulder more than their fair share – higher National Insurance, energy bills through the roof, endless red tape. Now HMRC wants to turn your bookkeeping into a part-time job. No wonder the silent majority is voting with its feet (or rather, refusing to lift them towards the sign-up button).

HMRC will no doubt blame “lack of awareness”, or “software issues”, or “misinformation”. The truth is simpler: people can smell a bad deal from a mile off. This regime isn’t “making tax digital” – it’s making tax more expensive, more intrusive, and more hated than ever.

So here’s the message to HMRC from the 96%:

We’re not signing up because we don’t trust you. We don’t need quarterly digital shackles. And we sure as hell aren’t going to thank you for the privilege of paying for the software that lets you spy on us more efficiently.

Scrap it. Delay it indefinitely. Or watch the chaos unfold in April when the real numbers come in and the excuses start flying.

The ball’s in your court, HMRC. But judging by the last few decades, you’ll probably just kick it into the long grass and send out more letters.

In the meantime, the rest of us will be over here, running our businesses, paying our taxes (reluctantly), and – if forced – grudgingly picking one of the above tools to stay out of the penalty trap.

Because this digital disaster? It’s already dead on arrival.

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One Million Miss 31 January Self Assessment Deadline

 

HMRC says one million people have missed the January 31 self assessment tax return deadline, and will now face an automatic £100 fine.

Let joy be untrammelled! 

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HMRC Will Now Keep Lines Open on Deadline Day

 

Following an outcry over its decision to close its phone lines on 31 January, HMRC has changed its mind.

HMRC will now provide the following.

• An enhanced webchat capacity will be available from 8am to 4pm to cover self assessment, agents, individuals who need extra support, bereavement services and the online services helpdesk.
• The self assessment phone line and online services helpdesk will be available from 9am to 4pm. The Association of Tax Technicians (ATT) has been advised that this will “not be a full self assessment helpline, but advisers will be able to answer common queries and, where needed, arrange a call back for more detailed support”.
• Its extra support team will be available, prioritising call-backs for vulnerable customers.

The Agent Dedicated Line will close on Friday 30 January 2026 at 6pm and reopen on Monday 2 February at 8am.

 

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HMRC Helplines Closed

 

As per HMRC

"Our helplines are currently closed due to a technical issue, which we're urgently working to resolve. We apologise to customers and advise them to try calling us later. Our digital services remain available."

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Children's Daycare Centre With ZERO Children

I assume that HMRC will be investigating this organisation?

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85,000 Companies Registered at Shelton Street!

 

One address and 85,000 companies: Welcome to Shelton Street!

As per The Times according to Companies House, just over 22,000 new companies were incorporated at 71-75 Shelton Street last year: an average of almost 90 companies for each working day. 

 On the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) list of named tax avoidance schemes, promoters, enablers and suppliers, many of the 246 companies named are, or were, registered at one of the three mass registration addresses. Seventeen firms are tied to 71-75 Shelton Street.

Dan Neidle, the founder of Tax Policy Associates, a think tank, set up a fraud-finding tool this year designed to help uncover suspicious UK companies. Searching by address, mass registration addresses generate a high number of hits. At 71-75 Shelton Street, for example, there are 40 results.

HMRC need to take a look at this place! 

 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 To Bin Letters

 

In a bid to slash print and postage costs by £50m and drag HMRC communications into the 21st century, letters will no longer be sent out automatically to taxpayers from next spring. Email alerts will be sent to them, notifying them of new documents in their personal tax accounts or the HMRC app instead. 

As part of HMRC’s ambitious digital by default programme, which envisages 90% of HMRC interactions with taxpayers being online or digital only by 2029-30 tax year, the Budget papers confirmed a major shift to digital by default had been signed off by the government, which is starting sooner than expected.

This means that the days of posted brown letters from HMRC are very much numbered with only the ‘digitally excluded’ or those who actively opt out of digital still able to receive old school posted letters, starting in spring 2026.

In one sense this might be an improvement, given that snail mail comms with HMRC seems to take a year or so. However, those who are not digitally savvy may well face problems with this new high tech vision of HMRC's. 

In June I warned of the bureaucratic nightmare that HMRC's rush to digital will unleash. 

HMRC’s MTD is a self-inflicted wound on the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit, and taxpayers are the ones left bleeding.

Various guides to Making Tax Digital can be found here. 

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HMRC Office Attendance Plummets to Lowest in a Year – Civil Servants Discover the Duvet is Mightier Than the Desk

 

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Fresh figures sneaked out by the ever-transparent HM Revenue & Customs show that office attendance across their sprawling empire has collapsed to the lowest level in twelve months. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, while you’re being dragged back to your workplaces like Victorian chimney sweeps, HMRC’s finest are apparently treating the concept of “presenteeism” with the contempt it richly deserves.

According to the latest internal data, average attendance across their 170+ sites has dipped to a magnificent 28%. That’s lower than the chance of getting a sensible answer when you ring the VAT helpline on a wet Tuesday afternoon.

Some regional offices are reportedly running at 12% on a good day. At that rate they might as well turn the buildings into storage units for all those unused self-assessment forms, P45s, and the complete box-set of every HMRC IT disaster since 2004.

Naturally, the mandarins at 100 Parliament Street are spinning this faster than a politician caught with both hands in the expenses tin. “Flexible working”, they coo. “Empowering our people”, they trill. Translation: “Please don’t notice the empty offices we’re still paying business rates on while we threaten private-sector workers with the sack if they don’t return.”

Let’s remind ourselves who these work-from-home warriors actually are:

• The same people who fine YOU £100 for being three days late with a tax return
• The same people who still haven’t fixed the Child Benefit shambles eighteen months later
• The same people whose idea of customer service is a phone system that plays Vivaldi for 45 minutes before cutting you off

Yet they can’t manage to drag themselves to a desk more than once a fortnight.

Brilliant.

If you’re one of the unlucky sods who actually has to go into an office, console yourself with a proper ergonomic chair (unlike the £19.99 plastic torture devices HMRC buys in bulk):
→ Best office chair for people who actually show up to work

Or maybe invest in a decent webcam so you can attend all those pointless Teams meetings from the comfort of your own bed – clearly the HMRC-approved way:
→ Webcam good enough for civil servants who never leave the house

And if the stress of dealing with HMRC ever gets too much, treat yourself to the finest single malt known to man – because you’ve bloody earned it:
→ Whisky to drink while crying over your latest HMRC penalty notice

Meanwhile, the handful of dutiful souls who DO turn up find the office milk has evolved into a new life form and the meeting rooms smell like a wet Labrador.

Truly the heroes we don’t deserve.

So there we have it: HMRC – the department that demands you account for every last penny – can’t even account for 72% of its own staff on any given day.

If this were a private company the shareholders would be reaching for the pitchforks. But this is the public sector, where failure is always rewarded with a bigger budget and a glowing write-up in The Guardian.

Pass the biscuits. And the whisky. It’s going to be a very long decade.

Tax does have to be taxing.


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HMRC's Child Benefit Cock-Up: 23,500 Families Falsely Branded as Fraudsters in Anti-Fraud Fiasco – The Reassessment Sham Unravels

 

Buckle up, fellow tax warriors – if "HMRC child benefit error 2025" or "HMRC fraud initiative blunder" has you spitting feathers at your screen, you're in the right corner of the ring. I'm Ken Frost, the battle-scarred FCA firebrand who's spent 19 gruelling years eviscerating HMRC's parade of pratfalls right here on HMRC Is Shite (and across my Living Brand empire at kenfrost.com). And today? Oh boy, we've got a fresh steaming pile of bureaucratic bollocks that's got 23,500 hardworking British families – that's right, 23,500 – clawing back what was rightfully theirs after HMRC's so-called "experimental anti-fraud programme" decided to play fast and loose with their livelihoods.

Picture this: You're a graft-in-the-trenches parent in Birmingham or Bristol, juggling a full-time job, school runs, and the endless grind of bills that never bloody stop. Your child benefit – that modest lifeline propping up the school uniforms, the packed lunches, the odd treat that keeps the wolf from the door – gets yanked without warning. Why? Because HMRC's boffins, in their infinite wisdom, peered into a crystal ball of "international travel patterns" (read: dodgy data scraps from the Home Office) and proclaimed you a permanent émigré to sunnier climes. A weekend jaunt to Dublin for Nan's funeral? Permanent fraud. A stag do in Benidorm that went tits-up with a delayed flight? Overseas scrounger. Even a family holiday to Majorca that got scrubbed by Storm Whatever-It-Was? Poof – you're painted as a benefit bandit, payments frozen, and your kids' future dipped in red ink.

This isn't some abstract Whitehall whitepaper wankery; it's a gut-punch to real lives. HMRC's grand gesture? A "full review" of the bollocksed cases, now cross-checking against employment records to prove you're still slogging it out in rainy old Blighty. Jolly good show, eh? But let's not kid ourselves – this reassessment circus is damage control dressed as diligence, and it's coming months too late for families who've already borrowed from mates, skipped meals, or pawned the PlayStation just to keep the lights on. As the National Audit Office (NAO) has hammered home time and again, HMRC's tech toys are about as reliable as a drunk uncle at a wedding: flashy on paper, fiasco in practice.

The Eye-Watering Stats: HMRC's Fraud-Fighting Farce in Black and White

To peel back the layers on this shambolic saga, here's a no-nonsense table distilling the data disaster (sourced from HMRC's own mea culpa leaks and PAC grillings). Brace yourselves – it's grim reading for anyone who believes "tax does have to be taxing" shouldn't extend to terrorising tots.

HMRC's Blunder Breakdown	Affected Families	Root Cause Cock-Up	Financial Fallout (Est.)	Reassessment Timeline	Taxpayer Cost (Hidden)
Wrongful Withdrawals	23,500	Incomplete Home Office travel data (e.g., missing Dublin returns, cancelled Eurostar legs)	£150m+ in frozen payments (avg. £500/family/month)	3-6 months per case	£20m+ in appeals/admin sludge
Fraud Initiative "Successes"	12,000 flagged as "permanent leavers"	Algorithm ignoring work ties (PAYE stubs, NI records)	40% family debt spikes; 25% food bank reliance	Ongoing "priority review" (ha!)	£10m in wrongful debt chases
Broader Child Benefit Errors	50,000+ since 2023	Data-sharing glitches with DWP/Home Office	£300m total over/underpayments	N/A – systemic review promised (again)	£50m+ in NAO/PAC probes
Helpline Hell Add-On	15,000+ distress calls	18-min avg. waits; 40% drop-offs	Mental health toll: 30% reported anxiety surges	"Fast-track" lines (if you can find 'em)	£5m in unstaffed advisor black hole

These aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet, muckers – they're nightmares etched in Excel. HMRC's "experimental programme," launched with all the fanfare of a damp squib, was meant to sniff out the real chancers: expats double-dipping on UK perks while sipping sangria in Spain. Noble aim? Aye. Execution? A goddamn disgrace. As the Treasury Committee roasted them last month, this isn't innovation; it's idiocy wrapped in AI hype, leaving legitimate claimants in the lurch while the actual fraudsters – those slick operators with fake addresses and phantom flights – slip through the net like ghosts in the machine.

Real Lives Ruined: The Human Cost of HMRC's High-Tech Hysteria

Spool back to Mrs. J in Leeds, a nurse pulling 12-hour shifts at the NHS while her hubby clocks overtime in a warehouse. One family trip to Poland to visit rellies in 2024, return via budget airline glitch, and bam: Child benefit for their two lads, aged 7 and 9, vanishes. Bills pile up, the fridge echoes, and Mum's skipping dinners to cover the mortgage. Or take the single dad in Glasgow, fostering his niece after a tragedy: His "suspicious" pattern? A work conference in Amsterdam that got extended by fog. HMRC's letter arrives like a red rag: "Overseas residency detected. Payments ceased." Cue panic borrowing at 40% APR from Wonga wannabes, all because some algorithm couldn't tell a conference from a con.

And don't get me started on the Northern Ireland families, for whom a hop across the Irish Sea is as routine as a cuppa. Dublin Airport data? Vanished into the ether. Warsaw layovers? Erased. This isn't oversight; it's outright oppression, disproportionately hammering working-class clans who can't afford the luxury of a paper trail. As one anonymous victim vented in the comments last week: "HMRC treated us like criminals for living our lives. My kids went without because your 'system' is shite." Spot on, mate. Spot. Bloody. On.

Eviscerating the Excuse Factory: Why HMRC's "Review" is Pure Piffle

Officials bleat about "lessons learned" and "enhanced checks," but let's call this what it is: a PR plaster on a gaping wound. That "analysis of international travel patterns"? Built on Home Office scraps that are notoriously patchy – think GDPR blind spots, post-Brexit border bollocks, and underfunded IT that's creaking like a 1980s ZX Spectrum. Employment records as the silver bullet? Laudable, but why wasn't that step one, not the remedial afterthought? HMRC's track record screams complacency: Remember the 2023 Universal Credit debacle that left 40,000 pensioners penniless? Or the £1bn refund fraud bonanza earlier this year? This child benefit clanger is just the latest in a litany of cock-ups that cost taxpayers £500m+ annually in fixes and fines.

The real scandal? While families fester in fear, HMRC's top brass pocket six-figure salaries and splash on "consultancy" fluff. That £450k video interview platform for recruitment? Aye, because nothing says "priority" like fancy tech for hiring more incompetents while helplines ring out to 6 million ghosts. It's a taxpayer mugging, plain and simple – and we're all footing the bill.

Fight Back, Tax Warriors: Your Action Arsenal

Enough wallowing; time to wield the pitchforks. Here's your battle plan to hold these clowns accountable:

• Bombard Your MP: Template email ready? "Demand HMRC halt all suspensions pending full audits. Cite the 23,500 victims and NAO's fraud-waste warnings." CC the Treasury Committee for extra sting.
• Share the Rage: Flood X (that's Twitter for the dinosaurs) with #HMRCChildBenefitBlunder and #TaxDoesHaveToBeTaxing. Tag @HMRCcustomers and @Exchequer – make it viral.
• Claim What's Yours: If you're hit, log into your Personal Tax Account pronto. Appeal via the helpline (good luck) or free advice lines like TaxAid. Document everything – it's your ammo.
• Support the Survivors: Donate to family food banks via Trussell Trust, or back campaigns from Gingerbread for single parents in the firing line.
• Wise Up Long-Term: Arm yourself with knowledge. Grab a copy of Tolley's Tax Planning 2025-26 (via Amazon) to navigate this minefield like a pro. Or dip into Your Rights as a Taxpayer by the CIT (here) for the lowdown on benefit appeals. Knowledge is power, and power is payback.

There you have it – HMRC's child benefit catastrophe laid bare, a festering reminder that when the taxman plays God with data, it's the little guy who bleeds. Got your own horror story? Spill it in the comments below; let's build the chorus. And remember, tax does have to be taxing – but it shouldn't be torturous. Stay savage, stay solvent.

Ken Frost, November 11, 2025

Tax does have to be taxing.



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 Shocking Bias Exposed: Benefit Claimants Get 3 Minute Calls While Taxpayers Endure 18 Minute Nightmares

 

In a move that reeks of government favouritism and bureaucratic incompetence, HMRC is treating hardworking taxpayers like second-class citizens. While you're sweating over your self-assessment or scrambling to sort a PAYE glitch, benefit claimants breeze through to a human advisor in just three minutes. That's right: Universal Credit queries are answered six times faster than the soul-crushing waits faced by everyday taxpayers phoning HMRC helplines. If you're fed up with HMRC phone wait times that drag on for an eternity, you're not alone. This disparity isn't just frustrating – it's a blatant injustice that demands accountability. Let's eviscerate this farce and uncover why HMRC is failing the very people who fund the welfare state.

The Stark Reality: 3 Minutes for Benefits vs. 18 Minutes of Taxpayer Hell

Picture this: You're a small business owner, buried in paperwork, dialling HMRC for urgent advice on VAT returns. The hold music loops endlessly, and after 18 minutes on average, you finally connect – only to be shuttled to another queue. Now contrast that with a Universal Credit claimant: Their call to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) helpline is picked up in a mere three minutes between March and October last year. Over the past four years, no UC caller has waited more than five minutes.

It's not just UC getting the red-carpet treatment. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) queries sail through in 11 minutes, while overall benefit lines are handled six times faster than HMRC's taxpayer torture chamber. Customer satisfaction? DWP boasts an 85% approval rate for UC services (up from 83%), and PIP hit 83% – a six-point jump. HMRC? A pathetic 62% of callers report a positive experience. It's like comparing a luxury spa to a dystopian call centre from hell.

This isn't a one-off glitch; it's systemic rot. Back in March 2024, the gap was even wider – 15 times faster for claimants. Fast-forward to 2025, and little has changed. HMRC's helplines are a war zone of inefficiency, leaving taxpayers – the lifeblood of the economy – twisting in the wind.

Why HMRC's Chronic Understaffing is a Slap in the Face to Taxpayers

HMRC isn't broke; it's broken by choice. Between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024, they slashed frontline customer service staff by a whopping 9%, turning helplines into ghost towns. Where did the money go? A cool £100 million on senior executives' salaries, plus another £100 million for recruiting high-paid compliance bosses, as slammed by the Public Accounts Committee. While fat cats feast, the grunts handling your calls are ghosts.

And the fallout? Taxpayers foot the bill – literally. Benefits for foreign households have doubled in three years, hitting £941 million per month in Universal Credit alone as of March this year – up 30% from last year and 15.5% of total UC payouts. That's your taxes propping up a system that prioritises claimants over contributors. Foreign citizens with indefinite leave or refugee status claim on par with Brits, ballooning the welfare bill to £900 million monthly for non-UK households.

Labour's latest blunder? They scrapped plans in March to force 80,000 more claimants into job hunts, citing an uncontrollable welfare bill explosion. Instead of trimming fat, they're backpedalling on £5 billion annual savings, leaving taxpayers to subsidise the mess. HMRC, with its 40 million customers and 66,000 staff, could fix this overnight with proper funding – but where's the political will?

Taxpayer Frustration Boils Over: "The Government Supports the Paid, Not the Payers"

The outrage is palpable. Former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg didn't mince words: "Similarly, the income tax threshold is frozen while benefits go up with inflation. The Government supports those who are paid by the state rather than those who pay for it." He's spot on. While your take-home pay stagnates under frozen thresholds, benefits inflate, and HMRC treats you like an afterthought.

Online, the backlash is fierce. Reddit threads seethe with stories of lost business hours and mounting stress from HMRC wait times. LinkedIn professionals decry the hypocrisy, and X (formerly Twitter) erupts with memes of taxpayers as ATM machines for the idle. This isn't "efficiency" – it's elitism disguised as policy, where the state's dependents get VIP service on the backs of the productive.

HMRC's defence? Crickets. No apologies, no reforms – just more promises of "digital transformation" that never materialise. Meanwhile, you're left refreshing the app, praying for a callback that rarely comes.

Time to Demand Change: How to Fight Back Against HMRC's Unfair Helpline Bias

Enough is enough. This Universal Credit helpline vs HMRC scandal exposes a rotten core in Britain's public services. Taxpayers aren't serfs; we're the engine room. Here's how to push back:

• Contact Your MP: Demand HMRC funding parity with DWP. Cite the 9% staff cuts and £200 million senior splurge – make it personal.
• Join the Chorus: Share your HMRC phone wait time horror stories on social media with #TaxpayerSecondClass. Amplify voices like Rees-Mogg's.
• Opt for Alternatives (Temporarily): Use HMRC's online tools or free agents, but log complaints via their feedback portal to build pressure.
• Vote with Your Wallet: Support parties pledging welfare reforms and tax service overhauls.

HMRC's bias isn't accidental – it's a symptom of a government that worships the dependent class while scorning the strivers. Until we eviscerate this two-tier system, hardworking Brits will keep suffering. Share this if you've been burned by HMRC waits, and let's force real change. Your taxes deserve better than a three-tier queue.

Tax does have to be taxing.



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 Shocking 7-Month A1 Certificate Backlog: Equity's Scathing Rebuke Exposes Bureaucratic Chaos

 

In a damning indictment of government inefficiency, the UK's leading performers' union, Equity, has fired off a blistering letter to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on October 10, 2025, demanding immediate action on a crippling seven-month backlog in A1 certificate processing. This administrative apocalypse is not just red tape run amok—it's a direct assault on the livelihoods of thousands of British creatives, from singers and dancers to theatre directors, forcing them into financial freefall and jeopardising the UK's £41.4 billion creative export industry. As UK workers scramble for overseas gigs in a post-Brexit world, HMRC's glacial pace is turning dreams into nightmares. How did a system meant to facilitate temporary work abroad devolve into this farce?

What Are A1 Certificates? The Essential Passport for UK Workers Abroad

For the uninitiated, A1 certificates are the golden ticket for British employees and self-employed professionals heading to the EU, EEA, or Switzerland for short stints. These vital documents confirm that social security contributions are being paid in the UK, shielding workers from double taxation and ensuring compliance with host country rules. Without an A1, you can't legally work temporarily overseas—full stop. HMRC's official targets? A breezy 15 working days for online applications and 40 for postal ones. Sounds straightforward, right? In reality, it's a bureaucratic black hole sucking in applications and spitting out despair.

The HMRC A1 Backlog Scandal: Seven Months of Inexcusable Delay

Fast-forward to October 2025, and HMRC's "check when you can expect a reply" service brazenly advertises a seven-month wait for new A1 requests. That's not a minor hiccup—it's a full-blown crisis that's been brewing for months, with reports of delays stretching back to early 2025. Equity, representing 50,000 performers and creatives, isn't mincing words: this backlog is "unacceptable," leaving members in "desperation" as they chase phantom responses through endless phone queues.

Why the paralysis? HMRC offers no coherent explanation, but patterns emerge from a trail of taxpayer tears. Musicians touring Europe face payment holds of months, retirees plotting sun-soaked escapes watch pensions evaporate in limbo, and expats renewing visas teeter on deportation's edge. This isn't isolated—it's symptomatic of HMRC's chronic understaffing and outdated systems, a post-Brexit hangover where the promise of "frictionless" trade dissolved into friction-filled fury. While the taxman rakes in billions, he's strangling the very workers who fuel the economy.

Heartbreaking Impacts: How HMRC's Neglect Is Crushing UK Creatives

The human cost of HMRC's A1 certificate delays is gut-wrenching. Equity members, often piecing together freelance gigs across borders, report overseas work evaporating overnight without this paperwork. Payments? Delayed indefinitely, plunging families into debt and despair.

Take one harrowing case spotlighted by Equity: A performer on an overseas tour had wages withheld from January to April 2025—four months of earned income vanished into the void, leaving him with zero other earnings and spiralling into "serious financial hardship." Multiply that agony by thousands: dancers sidelined from EU festivals, singers ghosted by Swiss productions, directors watching career-defining tours collapse. "International work is a vital component of many of our members’ livelihoods," blasts an Equity spokesperson, "and frictionless movement is absolutely essential... We are calling for urgent action to address the serious backlog."

Beyond performers, the ripple effects are seismic. Retirees dreaming of Continental bliss find their golden years tarnished by HMRC's "delays... sending my retirement up in flames." Expats and musicians alike are "stuck in limbo," their escapes from Britain's grey skies hijacked by paperwork purgatory. In a sector that punched £41.4 billion into UK exports in 2020 alone—14.2% of service trade—HMRC's incompetence isn't just sloppy; it's economic sabotage.

Equity's Explosive Letter: Demanding Accountability from HMRC

Equity's October 10 missive to HMRC's Jim Marks CB is a masterclass in controlled fury. Penned by General Secretary Paul W. Fleming, it lays bare the betrayal: "There is currently a significant backlog of unprocessed applications causing unacceptable delays... impacting their ability to accept and undertake the work they rely on, and causing serious financial hardship."

Fleming doesn't stop at outrage—he demands answers:

• Why the processing time is so long? (Hint: Not enough staff, antiquated tech?)
• When will additional resources be put in place? (Yesterday would be nice.)
• What will be done to prioritise urgent applications? (Because "wait it out" isn't cutting it amid phone lines that rival the M25 at rush hour.)

This isn't Equity's first rodeo; past pleas for NICs certificates fell on deaf ears. HMRC's silence? Deafening. It's time for heads to roll—or at least for the backlog to be bulldozed.

The Bigger Picture: HMRC's A1 Delays as Post-Brexit Betrayal

Zoom out, and this A1 fiasco epitomises HMRC's post-Brexit bungling. Promised as a seamless bridge to Europe, the system has instead become a moat of misery, deterring talent from borders and bloating Britain's brain drain. While ministers pat themselves on the back for "restoring control," workers flee to freer shores only to be shackled by Whitehall's whims. Creatives, who amplify Britain's soft power worldwide, deserve better than this slapdash service. Until fixed, it's a stark signal: Innovate here, emigrate elsewhere.

Time for Action: How to Fight Back Against HMRC's A1 Nightmare

Equity isn't waiting for miracles—they're mobilising. Urge your MP to hammer HMRC via Equity's campaign at equity.eaction.org.uk/write-to-MP-A1-certificate-backlog. Affected? Document your ordeal and flood HMRC's helpline (0300 200 3500) with demands for priority processing. Share your story on social media with #FixHM RCA1Backlog to amplify the chorus.

HMRC, your seven-month A1 certificate delays aren't a glitch—they're a grievous failure. Equity's call echoes what every beleaguered worker knows: Fix this now, or watch the UK's creative spark flicker out. The clock's ticking—will you finally listen?

Tax does have to be taxing.



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 Woke Meltdown: 'Guilt of Being British' Seminar Banned – Taxpayers Finally Saved from Civil Service Nonsense

 

In a rare victory for common sense and taxpayer sanity, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been slapped with new guidance banning "nonsense" civil servant network events during work hours. This crackdown comes hot on the heels of a jaw-dropping seminar titled Guilt of Being British: Listening Circle, organised by the HMRC Race Network – an event that had staff pondering the "emotional complexity" of national identity while clocked in and billing the public purse. If you're fed up with woke civil service excesses, this is the story of how absurdity finally met its match, but not without leaving a trail of wasted hours and eye-rolls in its wake.

The Absurdity of HMRC's 'Guilt Trip' Seminar: A Deep Dive into Diversity Gone Mad

Picture this: It's a balmy summer day in 2025, and instead of chasing tax evaders or processing refunds, HMRC employees are logging into a one-hour virtual session to unpack the "guilt, pride, and identity" tied to being British. Billed as a "powerful" listening circle by the Race Network, this wasn't some optional after-hours therapy sesh – it was squarely during work time, with remote access for maximum participation. Attendees were encouraged to reflect on the "emotional complexity of being South Asian and British," turning a government tax office into a impromptu colonialism confessional.

Critics didn't hold back, branding it pure "nonsense" that reeks of performative wokeness. And they're spot on. In an organisation already plagued by backlogs – think delayed refunds and creaking helplines – diverting staff to navel-gaze about national guilt isn't just tone-deaf; it's a slap in the face to every hardworking Brit footing the bill. HMRC, tasked with collecting £800 billion annually, somehow found bandwidth for this? It's the kind of bureaucratic bloat that makes you wonder if the real tax dodge is the civil service's grip on reality.

This wasn't a one-off either. Past events have veered into veganism advocacy and flexible working pep talks, all under the guise of "inclusion" networks. One can only imagine the productivity dip: hours lost to seminars that sound more like a bad TED Talk than essential public service. Small wonder public trust in HMRC is at rock bottom – when your tax collector prioritises identity politics over invoices, something's rotten in the Revenue.

Why This Ban on Civil Servant Network Events is Long Overdue – But Is It Enough?

Fast-forward to September 2025, and the powers-that-be have finally pulled the plug. New directives explicitly veto "nonsense" gatherings during office hours, ensuring that diversity drives, guilt circles, and vegan vigils stay out of the taxpayer-funded calendar. The Telegraph reports that future HMRC Race Network events have been canned in response, a direct fallout from the British guilt fiasco.

Hallelujah? Sort of. This ban is a welcome gut-punch to the civil service's DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) obsession, which has ballooned into a multi-million-pound industry of consultants, trainings, and endless committees. But let's not pop the champagne just yet. HMRC confirmed the seminar happened, yet it took public outrage – amplified by outlets like LBC and the Daily Mail – to force a rethink. Where was the oversight before staff were guilt-tripped on the clock?

And here's the kicker: These networks aren't vanishing; they're just shifting to lunch breaks or after hours. Fine, you say? Not if it means volunteers – often from underrepresented groups – shoulder the load outside paid time, turning "inclusion" into unpaid labour. HMRC's half-measure reeks of damage control, not genuine reform. Taxpayers deserve better than a band-aid on a bullet wound.

Broader Civil Service Wokeness: HMRC's Not Alone in the Madness

HMRC's saga is just the tip of the iceberg in a civil service drowning in ideological quicksand. From "decolonising" curricula in government departments to mandatory pronoun workshops, the UK's public sector has morphed into a petri dish for progressive experiments – all while services crumble. Remember the vegan days pushed in other agencies? Or the endless flexible working seminars that ignore frontline realities?

This isn't harmless fluff; it's corrosive. It alienates talent, erodes morale, and – crucially – costs a fortune. With civil service headcount swelling to over 500,000 and budgets ballooning, every hour on "Guilt of Being British" is a direct hit to efficiency. No wonder productivity lags: When your day job includes soul-searching about empire, who has time for actual work?

The backlash has been swift and savage, with social media ablaze – Reddit threads calling it "peak civil service idiocy" and X (formerly Twitter) users demanding heads roll. Politicians from across the aisle have piled on, questioning why public funds fuel such frivolity. It's a wake-up call: Time to audit these networks, cap their budgets, and refocus on core duties like, oh, collecting taxes without the therapy session.

Time for Real Accountability: End the Woke Civil Servant Circus Once and For All

HMRC's ban on network events during work hours is a step forward, but it's baby steps in a marathon of mismanagement. The Guilt of Being British seminar wasn't just embarrassing – it was emblematic of a civil service lost in its own echo chamber, prioritising feelings over fiscal responsibility. Taxpayers, who've endured years of this nonsense, now have a blueprint for demanding more: Scrutinise every "inclusion" initiative, measure its ROI (spoiler: it's often zero), and put productivity first.

If HMRC wants to rebuild trust, start by ditching the guilt trips and getting back to basics. No more seminars on British shame – unless they're about shaming the waste. Britain's public servants serve the public, not some abstract DEI deity. Let's hope this ban is the beginning of the end for civil service wokeness, not just a pause in the pandering.

What do you think – is HMRC's crackdown genuine reform or PR spin? Share your thoughts in the comments below. 

Tax does have to be taxing.



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 Exposed: Over 500,000 Sick Days a Year Fuel Taxpayer Frustration and Inefficiency

In a damning revelation that's sparking outrage among UK taxpayers, HMRC staff are clocking up more than half a million sick days annually, leaving millions of calls unanswered and billions in taxes uncollected. This epidemic of absenteeism highlights deep-rooted issues within the tax authority, where a "sick note culture" is costing the public dearly. As Britain grapples with economic pressures, questions arise: Is HMRC fit for purpose, or is it a bloated bureaucracy failing those who fund it?

The Shocking Scale of HMRC Staff Absenteeism

Recent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have laid bare the extent of sickness absences at HMRC. Between August 2024 and July 2025, employees took a staggering 551,064 sick days. This figure, while slightly down from 565,244 the previous year, is up from 540,052 in 2022-2023, totalling over 1.6 million lost working days in just three years. With a workforce of around 66,000, this translates to an average of eight sick days per employee annually – far from a minor blip, but a systemic failure that's draining productivity.

Critics argue this isn't just bad luck; it's symptomatic of poor management and lax policies. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately branded the statistics "shocking," stating that "far too many days are being lost to sick leave. This is unfair on taxpayers and damaging to productivity." Meanwhile, the wider civil service is haemorrhaging over four million working days yearly to sickness, with absence rates surging by more than 10% in some departments.

Devastating Impact on Taxpayers and Services

While HMRC staff stay home, ordinary taxpayers are left in the lurch. Jonathan Athow, HMRC's director general of customer strategy, admitted during a parliamentary session that up to four million taxpayer calls go unanswered each year. That's millions of frustrated individuals and businesses unable to get help on critical issues like tax returns, refunds, or compliance – all while £46.8 billion in owed taxes remains uncollected.

The fallout is real: Tax advisers warn that the UK's labyrinthine tax system becomes impossible to navigate without support, leading to errors, penalties, and lost revenue. Seb Maley, CEO of Qdos, slammed the situation: "Without effective communication channels, many taxpayers are left to navigate unclear rules on their own. This can easily lead to mistakes and ultimately, non-compliance." In one egregious example, 44,000 callers were cut off after waiting over an hour in 2024 alone. Taxpayers footing the bill for HMRC's salaries are essentially paying for ghost workers, as services crumble under the weight of absenteeism.

Unpacking the Root Causes: A Toxic "Sick Note Culture"

What's fuelling this absenteeism crisis? Post-pandemic mental health issues play a role, with long-term sickness absences rising from 2.8 days per civil servant in 2021 to 3.5 in 2023. But critics point to deeper cultural rot. Elliot Keck from the TaxPayers’ Alliance didn't mince words: "HMRC isn’t the only department with a lethargic attitude to work; sick note culture is rife amongst the Civil Service. Millions of days are being lost, costing taxpayers a fortune and sapping productivity."

Senior Tory MP Esther McVey went further, calling public sector sickness levels "nothing short of a scandal" and questioning why public employees seem "more unhealthy" than their private sector counterparts. She attributed it to a mindset where "sick days are an extension of holidays." Hybrid working policies, including mandates for 60% office time, may also encourage staff to call in sick rather than commute. HMRC's defence? Their rates are "in line with the UK workforce average," while touting £500 million in digital investments. But this rings hollow when services are failing spectacularly.

Stark Comparisons: Public vs. Private Sector Divide

The public-private chasm is glaring. Office for National Statistics data shows public sector sickness rates are nearly 50% higher than in the private sector. Private companies, facing market pressures, can't afford such laxity – they'd go bust. Yet HMRC, shielded by taxpayer funding, operates with impunity. Arkadiy Ukolov of Ulla Technology summed it up: "Every day taken sick is a day that slows down public services, stalls important work, and costs the taxpayer."

In a broader UK context, sick days have hit a 15-year high, with workers absent nearly two weeks on average, driven by mental health and long-term issues. But HMRC's figures exacerbate this, undermining confidence in government efficiency at a time when welfare costs are ballooning to £378 billion by 2029/30.

Urgent Calls for Reform and Accountability

Enough is enough. Taxpayers deserve better than a tax office riddled with absenteeism and excuses. Helen Whately demands stricter sick note protocols: "Too many sick notes are handed out without proper care or consideration." The TaxPayers’ Alliance urges civil service chiefs to "get a grip" and prioritise value for money.

Reforms could include tighter monitoring, incentives for attendance, and a cultural shift away from entitlement. As Labour pushes worker rights enhancements, including Statutory Sick Pay changes, the risk is entrenching this problem further. HMRC must be held accountable – or risk becoming a symbol of bureaucratic waste.

In conclusion, HMRC's 500,000+ sick days aren't just numbers; they're a betrayal of public trust. While staff recover at home, taxpayers endure delays, unanswered queries, and mounting costs. It's time for radical change to restore efficiency and fairness in our tax system. 

Share your thoughts: Have you been let down by HMRC?

Tax does have to be taxing.



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"