HMRC Changes Bank Details - Without Telling Anyone

Kudos to HMRC for forgetting to tell people that it had changed its bank account details, for firms which pay tax using IBAN, in February.

Can you guess what happened next children?

Yes, that's right, tens of millions of pounds in VAT and corporation tax has not been paid.

The Telegraph reports that large tax payments from a number of businesses have bounced and remain uncollected.

However, no problem as far as HMRC is concerned.

How so?

It has levied the hapless firms with penalty notices and, even better, has still not told them how to pay what they owe!

A senior executive within the tax department of a listed multinational company, who asked not to be named, told the Telegraph that the first he knew about his £6m VAT instalment being rejected was when the firm received a late payment notice.

“Our payment is now nearly a month overdue and we have still not received instruction from HMRC on how to pay. The way they have handled it is so shambolic, I would not be surprised if this is a much wider issue.

These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg as although there was some advance notice in a couple of HMRC publications, those notices did not include the vital IBAN number businesses need to make payments."

A HMRC spokesperson said: 

“HMRC’s move to a new bank will be invisible to most customers, who will not need to do anything different when sending payment to HMRC. Customers paying from overseas will need to update their payment details. Anyone experiencing difficulties in making payments should contact HMRC immediately.”

"Piss up" and "brewery" spring to mind!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

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HMRC's £5.5BN Tax Grab

In a court victory last week HMRC been given the go-ahead to demand £5.5BN from taxpayers, before they have chance to appeal.

HMRC can demand that individuals pay tax within 90 days, with added penalties and charges, if they are suspected of abusing legitimate tax reliefs. In the event a court later decides that HMRC's calculations were wrong, the money is paid back.

Richard Morley, a partner at BDO, is quoted by the Telegraph:

"Just as HMRC is about to be given the power to raid people's bank accounts, they have been given the go-ahead to pursue billions in tax it thinks people owe."

A recipe for disaster, as miscalculations have already been detected in the 10,000 "accelerated payment notices" sent to taxpayers so far. According to Mr Morley, clients have been sent letters in cases where the calculations were incorrect by tens of thousands of pounds.

HMRC will now be sending an expected 54,000 letters to individuals it also suspects of avoiding tax, demanding that they pay up in within three months, in a bid to collect the extra money.

"We expect to complete the issue of around 64,000 tax notices by the end of 2016, bringing forward £5.5bn in payments for the Exchequer by March 2020."

Let's see how this goes then!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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HMRC Moves To Direct Debit

HMRC has announced that it will move to mandatory direct debit for agreed time to pay arrangements as from 3 August.

Seemingly, only in exceptional circumstances will taxpayers be allowed to pay by any other method.

As per economia, agreed time to pay arrangements are set up under HMRC’s discretionary powers to allow payment of a debt by instalments after the due date, where the taxpayer is genuinely unable to pay by the due date but can commit to agreed payments to sort their tax position out.

HMRC's move to direct debit by default because it is more cost effective and more secure than other payment methods, and ensures that payments are more accurately allocated.

It removes the chance that the taxpayer forgets to make payments.

It also reduces the need for subsequent taxpayer contact, saving time for both parties.

Let us trust that nothing goes wrong with this!


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Given Powers To Raid Bank Accounts

Wednesday's Budget announcement by Osborne failed to mention that HMRC will be given powers to raid bank accounts and ISAs of people who are recalcitrant with paying their taxes.

As per P94 of the Budget, quoted by This Is Money:

"This government will introduce legislation to modernise and strengthen HMRC's powers to recover tax and tax credit debts directly from debtors' bank and building society accounts, including funds held in cash Isas. 

Having widely consulted, this measure will be subject to robust safeguards including a county court appeal process and a face-to-face visit to every debtor before they are considered for debt recovery through this measure."

Let us trust that HMRC never makes any mistakes when taking a dip!


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

DRD Unconstitutional

Unsurprisingly many people are still vexed (to put it mildly) about the proposals to allow HMRC to take money from recalcitrant debtors' bank accounts (aka “Direct Recovery of Debt” - DRD).

The simple fact of the matter is that no one trusts HMRC not to screw this up, nor not to be tempted to abuse these powers.

Latest in the long line of organisations to criticise this proposal is the ICAEW Tax Faculty, which stated that the safeguards are far from adequate and that HMRC “should go back a step and consult properly


”.

Powers such as these require independent judicial oversight, the ICAEW are quoted in economia:

“this contravenes the constitutional principle of separation of powers”. 

ICAEW believes tax recovery powers must be “fair, proportionate and accompanied by robust safeguards”.

Given HMRC's preponderance to make errors, and to target those who are the easiest to target, it is hardly surprising that no one trusts them with these powers.


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Homer Places HMRC Above The Law

The Treasury Select Committee has warned that it continues to have "considerable concern" about proposals for HMRC to be allowed to deduct money directly from tax debtors' bank accounts.

Unsurprisingly Lin Homer continues to deny that there is a problem with this proposal, and told the committee that it doesn't breach Magna Carta protections for the individual against the state.

In addition to wanting to raid bank accounts of recalcitrant tax debtors, Homer and her gang want to access bank statements going back 12 months and to freeze the accounts of those HMRC deem to be recalcitrant for 14 days whilst HMRC "check spending patterns".

Now you and I might point out to Homer and her gang that there are already laws at HMRC's disposal, that enable it to recoup money from the recalcitrant. The problem, from Homer's perspective, is that these laws require HMRC to prove (via the courts) that it has a right to extract monies owed.

In Homer's view the courts are simply too slow and expensive; ie she wants HMRC to be placed above the law!

The committee takes a dim view of Homer's desire to ride roughshod over the law, and has already warned in a recent report that the new powers would be "wholly unacceptable" without a requirement for independent approval from a court, ombudsman or tribunal before money was taken.

Homer was having none of that, she is quoted by the Guardian:

"I believe that for the taxpayer as a whole, it is right that we have sufficient powers to stop these limited numbers of people avoiding paying tax.

We are talking about 17,000 people who don't dispute the tax is due, they just don't pay. We will have written to them, we will have engaged with them and they just fold their arms and wait for us to take some other action.

Of course, we can go to court, but the cost both in time and money of going to court will often outweigh or seriously diminish the amount of tax collected. In these cases, we believe with proper safeguards... this is a fairer way of extracting the tax everybody is due to pay."

The Liberal Democrat committee member John Thurso said that HMRC was trying to become judge, jury and executioner and to remove legal protections from those who it believes owe tax, simply because it was slow and expensive to follow the legal processes.

All of this, if Homer's wish is granted, for a poxy £375M over four years!

Ironically, when quizzed about whether HMRC would pay compensation when (not "if") it made a mistake Homer said it would be up the courts to decide the amount. These being the same courts that she doesn't want to use when raiding people's bank accounts!

To grant Homer and her chums in HMRC these powers would be madness in the extreme!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Increases Its Spend On Bailiffs

UHY Hacker Young reports that HMRC has doubled its use of private sector bailiffs and debt collection agencies over the last two years, indicating that it is taking a more aggressive approach to recover overdue tax.

UHY Hacker Young says that HMRC spent £14.8M in 2013 on the use of private sector debt collectors, this is an increase of 15% from £12.9M in 2012 and more than double the £6M spent in 2011.

Mark Giddens, Head of Private Client Services at UHY Hacker Young, is quoted by Director of Finance:

“Bailiffs do not have the best of reputations and many taxpayers are going to be very alarmed when a debt collector is brought in.
 
Most taxpayers who are behind with their payments are in that situation because they simply can’t afford to pay their tax – not because they intend to string HMRC along.”

The risk of bailiffs being used is increasing as HMRC winds down its "Time to Pay" scheme.

Mr Giddens also notes:

“There is the danger of mistakes in communication between HMRC and its agencies, with taxpayers being incorrectly chased for debts. Any errors that do arise would be far easier to rectify if the process was kept in-house.”

HMRC uses 13 companies to aid it in its debt recovery programme.

However, the "success" or otherwise of farming out debt collection to the private sector depends very much on the quality of the private sector firm used and the validity of the information they are given to work with.

It is also worthwhile remembering that once you have unleashed the hounds, it is sometimes rather difficult to rein them back in. Do not forget that if HMRC are given powers to raid bank accounts, this may well exacerbate the problems faced by taxpayers incorrectly targetted as a result of erroneous HMRC data.

Please feel free to share your experiences of HMRC's debt collection tactics.


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The People Awake

I am glad to see that people are finally waking up to the demented proposal to give HMRC the power to raid people's bank accounts in order to collect unpaid tax.

Rebecca Benneyworth (Chair of the ICAEW Tax Faculty) has tweeted that the tax faculty will be holding an event to discuss this on 2 July, in time to formulate responses to consultation.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Paul Aplin Sounds Warning Bells

Paul Aplin, tax partner with A C Mole & Sons and Chairman of the ICAEW Tax Faculty Technical Committee, has written a blog on economia warning about the new powers being proposed for HMRC wrt offshore accounts and accessing debts from people's bank accounts.

Here is his article as it appears on the economia site:

"My first inclination was not to write about this subject because others have written about it recently for economia. Having just read the Hansard report of the first day’s Finance Bill Committee proceedings however I changed my mind.

My subject is two proposed new powers for HMRC. Neither is contained in the 2014 Finance Bill but both are scheduled for the 2015 Finance Bill. There is, therefore, still time to do something about them.

The first power

The first proposed power would enable HMRC to collect tax debts direct from people’s bank accounts where the debt is established and where HMRC has taken steps to recover it but the taxpayer has still failed to pay. Some 53 pages into the Budget Red Book those of us who spend our time reading the small print in such documents found the following statement:

“The government will modernise and strengthen HMRC’s debt collection powers to recover financial assets from the bank accounts of debtors who owe over £1,000 of tax or tax credit debts, have the financial means to pay, and have been contacted multiple times by HMRC to pay. A minimum of £5,000 will be left across debtors’ accounts. This brings the UK in line with many other tax authorities which already have the power to recover debts directly from an individual’s account, such as France and the US.”

This rang some pretty loud warning bells for me, not because I don’t want HMRC to collect tax that is due, but because I fear the potential for serious errors or mistakes.

A couple of years ago I received a letter at home threatening a visit to mark my goods for auction as I had ignored correspondence about a tax debt. I did not actually have a tax debt ( the fact that no figure for tax was shown on the threatening letter was something that might have given the person who sent the letter pause for thought but clearly didn’t). Fortunately I knew what to do next because of the job I do, but what if I hadn’t?

The week after the Budget announcement was made one of my clients was threatened with a visit to collect a PAYE debt that had been paid weeks earlier and another client was called (he said the tone of the call was pretty stern) about a VAT debt that had also been paid. Both clients have an excellent history of paying their tax on time.

This week a client received a “most people pay their taxes on time so why haven’t you?” letter requesting payment of tax shown as due on an HMRC self-assessment amendment. The amendment was dated 10 April and the chasing letter was dated 16 April.

All of these were administrative errors. All had explanations. All caused irritation, wasted time and unnecessary worry. I suspect most practitioners reading this will have had similar experiences.

And that is why I am worried about the proposed new power. I think HMRC should be as well, because it will only take one or two cases of this going wrong to create some very bad headlines.

The measure is up for consultation and the best outcome would be for it to be dropped. No-one should have access to a citizen’s bank account without the sanction or oversight of the court.

The second power

The second proposal is for there to be a presumption that someone who has undeclared taxable offshore income has failed to declare it deliberately. They should therefore be presumed guilty unless and until proved innocent. I do not defend deliberate failure to disclose offshore taxable income: those who deliberately fail to declare taxable income should be dealt with robustly. Tax evasion is a crime. This reversal of the usual presumption of innocence however is an extremely alarming proposal.

I am concerned that a fundamental principle of law is being turned on its head. I am also concerned about the potential for perfectly innocent situations to lead to utterly ghastly consequences.

Again this measure will be consulted on and again I hope that it will be re-thought.

The role of Parliament

During the summer both proposals will, as I have said, be consulted on. It is important that ICAEW and others make our voices heard during that consultation.

There is then a further stage in the process. Legislation has to be drafted and to find its way into a Finance Bill in 2015 (I say “a” Finance Bill as 2015 being an election year there will be more than one). That means there must be debate about the proposed powers in Parliament. I hope that there will be because what we are talking about here is the balance between the powers of the state and the rights of the citizen. It is about civil liberties. These are things I would hope MPs would be keen to debate.
I worry about this on two counts.

The first is that on reading the first day’s Finance Bill Committee proceedings this week my overriding impression was that there was far too much focus on making party political points about the economy and the tax system and far too little focus on the technical detail. The technical detail of the proposed new HMRC powers will need careful, informed scrutiny and robust debate by our elected representatives.

The second is that these proposals need to be seen for what they are: new powers which – if they are to be introduced at all - must be balanced by very strong safeguards. Those safeguards must be in law, not in guidance. It would be too easy for politicians to take a superficial view that as the powers are aimed at those who do not keep their tax affairs in order HMRC must be granted them.

The debate needs to be about the core issue: the power of the state and the rights of the citizen. It will take place in 2015, the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta. Hopefully that will focus minds on the importance of taking only necessary powers and of respecting the rights of the citizen."

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Granted New Powers

As noted last week, yesterday's Budget has granted HMRC new powers to take taxes owed from people's bank accounts when multiple attempts to contact the laggardly taxpayers have failed.

A consultation document is expected shortly.

Let us see how this works in practice!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Employers' Bank Account In Cumbernauld

Update: from April 2013 employers will pay one HMRC bank account

Employers who make a payment to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) by:

• Bacs Direct Credit
• Faster Payments by online/telephone banking
• CHAPS

will make their payments to a single bank account from April 2013. From month 01 of the 2013-14 tax year payments should be made to the Accounts Office Cumbernauld account.

HMRC has started to send employers information about this change ready for 2013-14.

Source HMRC.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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 Banking Matters

As everyone in the country is aware (even those who are not amongst my loyal readers) bankers and banks have been hitting the headlines over the last few weeks.

Aside from the soap opera that is Barclays (today's episode will be most interesting, as Broon and his henchmen will be implicated in the LIEBOR scandal) and the mis-selling of interest rate hedges etc, there is the ongoing matter of the NatWest/RBS/Ulster Bank computer meltdown that has caused chaos wrt people's incoming and outgoing payments and access to accounts.

Whilst RBS would have us believe that it is almost all fixed, the hapless individuals who have to bank with (or expect payment from) Ulster Bank are still suffering. Seemingly the Ulster Bank issue will not be fixed until at least 16th July!

What has this diatribe against RBS got to do with HMRC?

Step forward a loyal reader, who I must thank, who recently pointed out a page on HMRC's website that reminds us all that HMRC now banks with RBS.

"Shame they did not ask Homer about the current state of the Government Banking Service used by HMRC

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/bank-account-mig.htm

You will note that it is run by the same RBS group that has so spectacularly screwed up the accounts of its NatWest and Ulster Bank subsidiaries in its recent IT debacle. HMRC may have not been too seriously implemented this time but will it be so lucky in the future.

BTW you have got to hand it to the British government and HMRC for handing over its banking to RBS in April 2008, only to have to bail it out with billions of pounds of taxpayers money to save it from total collapse a few months later. 

Way to go lads."

My question is this, has anyone experienced problems paying money to or receiving money from HMRC as a result of the ongoing RBS system meltdown?

Tax does have to be taxing.



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To find out more, please use this link Taxwise



Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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 Massive Extension

In a clear admission of defeat, and as a result of protests by banks over the workload involved in informing on their customers, HMRC have extended their deadline for taxpayers to register their offshore holdings from the end of this month to January 4 2010.

Seemingly the fish are not yet scared enough to jump into HMRC's net.

However, in a reflection of the government's anti bank hysteria, HMRC are pushing the banks to speed up wrt providing information about customers' offshore accounts.

January 4 will be the final deadline to "sign up" for the amnesty on unpaid tax from foreign accounts.

Absolutely the final deadline, honest!

Clearly the top bods in HMRC are sweating, as the promises they made to Brown and Darling about how much money this amnesty would bring in are not being fulfilled.

Failure could mean that the top bods might find themselves out of a job, something that up until now only happens to the lower orders within HMRC!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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"

Bankers Revolt

It seems that banks are making a stand against HMRC.

Approximately 308 banks, whilst not exactly taking to streets in a "Peasants' Revolt", are kicking up a fuss over HMRC attempts to pry out of them details about their clients' overseas bank accounts (using "Schedule 36 Notices).

The banks are appealing against the notices on the grounds that the request for information is "unduly onerous".

Whilst it is unlikely that, in the long run, the banks will be able to block HMRC this will disrupt HMRC's fishing trip for some time.

Powers for invasion of privacy and spying should be in proportion to the results expected. I remain to be convinced that this fishing trip will net the government billions in evaded tax receipts.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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 Places Itself Above The Law II

ICAS (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland) aren't particularly impressed with HMRC's "Code of Practice on Taxation of Banks" either:

"It has always been the case that banks, and other businesses, have applied strict interpretations of the tax law in determining their tax liabilities. This certainty is a key principle for any effective fiscal system. However, the code seeks to persuade the banking sector to encourage compliance with the spirit, as well as the letter of the law.

This relies on the banks' ability to fully understand both the law and the intention of parliament in introducing new tax laws. Understanding the intention of parliament is something which, as recent high profile tax cases have shown, even HMRC are unable to achieve. The code also specifically targets UK banks, leaving other lenders such as overseas banks outside its scope – an approach which is potentially discriminatory."

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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 Places Itself Above The Law

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is less than impressed with HMRC's consultation document on Code of Practice On Taxation of Banks.

"We are deeply concerned about any move that seems to erode what is one of the cornerstones of the UK's tax system: that taxpayers should be taxed according to the letter of the law.

Case law and documents going back to Magna Carta recognise this. In recent years, case law has developed its way of looking at the statute, towards a purposive interpretation of the transactions under consideration.

This has been a significant evolution, and one with which taxpayers and HMRC are managing to deal; it seems to deliver a good deal of what HMRC presumably hope to achieve with the current document.

However, any move to tax by the 'spirit' of the law is a major further step. HMRC need to recognise and justify the significance of the change."

Slowly but surely HMRC are attempting to put themselves above statute and parliament, and take on the role of judge, jury and executioner wrt taxation and the interpretation of tax law.

This is an "evolution" that must be stopped.

The bedrock of dictatorship is an overempowered, arrogant, unaccountable, unelected bureaucracy populated by "little men" who believe that they are working for a "greater cause".

Issues wrt "faulty" tax legislation are for the elected members parliament to address, not the unelected bureaucrats of HMRC.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tax Avoidance vs Tax Evasion

Lloyds finds itself the centre of some unwelcome media and HMRC attention this week, following a Panorama report that showed the bank was helping people avoid paying tax.

The fact that tax avoidance is perfectly legal seems to have passed the media by, yet again.

However, of greater concern is Hartnett's reaction to the fact that Lloyds "brainstorms" to "get round taxes".

"Brainstorming in the context you've just used suggests to me some complex arrangement for tax avoidance. Or, worse still, potentially facilitating tax evasion … We simply cannot tolerate that sort of behaviour."

Tax evasion is illegal, and Hartnett is quite correct to state that HMRC should not tolerate it. However, to lump avoidance in with evasion is misleading, and Hartnett knows that.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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"

Gone Fishing

Nationwide and HMRC are having a few interesting exchanges over HMRC's request to Nationwide to disclose details of its customers with offshore accounts.

The Times quotes Nationwide:

"Nationwide has been in active discussion with HMRC on this matter.

However, we do not believe our records enable us to identify those customers who live in the UK and have an offshore account.

We have already informed HMRC of this, but inquiries are ongoing".

Doubtless the same discussions are ongoing with other building societies.

I wonder if the extra tax revenue earned will cover the admin costs incurred wrt this fishing trip by both HMRC and the building societies?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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"

Power Corrupts - Who Pays The Bill?

Aside from the civil liberties issues of granting HMRC (ie the state) more power to invade the privacy of individuals, for I suspect precious little reward, who exactly will end up footing the bill for HMRC's forthcoming trawl for information about offshore bank accounts?

This is going to be quite a large exercise.

As per Accounting Web:

Under Schedule 36 of the Finance Act (which came into Wednesday), HMRC now has the power to issue information notices to banks, forcing them to provide data on clients with UK addresses holding offshore investments.

Over 300 banks have been ordered to surrender information about customers with offshore accounts.

Brian Mairs, of the British Bankers' Association, said:

"No bank has any interest in shielding customers who would seek to evade their tax obligations. However, all of them have a duty under the law to keep their customers' affairs confidential.

The affected banks have yet to receive the notices, but once they receive them they will engage with HMRC to understand what information is being sought, whether it is in the power of the bank to provide it and, if so, in what time scale?"

James Bullock, tax partner at McGrigors, is quoted in The Times:

"For the financial institutions concerned this disclosure process is incredibly onerous and costly and they have to foot the bill themselves - even though they are doing HMRC's work for them."

Powers for invasion of privacy and spying should be in proportion to the results expected. I remain to be convinced that this fishing trip will net the government billions in evaded tax receipts.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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 Chooses RBS

A snippet from the City Diary of yesterday's Times:

"HM Revenue & Customs has had to go looking for another bank. This follows the decision in 2004 by the Bank of England to withdraw from the provision of retail banking and clearing services to government departments and corporate customers in order to concentrate its core responsibilities, HMRC tells me.

(Does anyone know whether this decision led to a more diligent and careful stewardship of the UK economy from Threadneedle Street? Someone remind me.)

So Revenue & Customs had to go through a public procurement process to find the right bank.

The result?

Citigroup and, er, Royal Bank of Scotland.

RBS seems to have been a long way into its present troubles when it was selected for the HMRC job.

Still, life goes on."

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"