MTD To Cost Businesses an Extra £37M

When MTD was first mooted, original forecasts said the scheme would save businesses £100 million a year from 2021. 

However, reality is a strict mistress, HMRC’s latest view is there will be no cost savings and the extra work will end up costing firms £37 million a year!

How farking splendid!

Oh but on the plus side, those extra costs will be tax deductible.

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"

Making Tax Digital Runs at a Loss

The document published yesterday outlining HMRC's Making Tax Digital for Business shows  that costs will still exceed savings by £100m in 2022.

Please feel free to comment.

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"

Treasury Select Committee Rubbishes HMRC's Digital Revolution

The Treasury select committee has criticised HMRC’s plans to digitise tax on the basis of the cost burden it will place on business.

The committee notes that the project (which needs businesses to use prescribed software to file tax information quarterly) will add to their compliance costs and makes it ‘implausible’ that they will achieve the predicted administrative savings.

This is something that loyal readers already know, and have been trying to communicate to HMRC. In fact I understand that Troup is a zealot wrt the "digital revolution" and, when engaged with on the subject by a loyal reader, was not just deaf to her points that it will be costly and burdensome but talked over her as she tried to make her case.

The question is, has HMRC done a full impact assessment on the costs/benefits (to the taxpayers) of the digital project?

No, I don't think it has. In fact Andrew Tyrie (chairman of the committee) has asked the very same of Gauke in this letter.


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"

Justice Costs - Charge For Tribunal Appeals

The government has proposed introducing fees for individuals appealing decisions to the tax tribunal as part of broader reforms to civil court funding, which also include increasing fees levied on divorce proceedings.

The Law Society has warned that the government’s plans to rebalance the costs of the judicial system threaten not only to undermine the principle of universal access to independent rulings, but also to tip the balance of power in disputes towards the tax authority.

As per the FT:

“The government is effectively selling justice by saying that you need to pay for the courts,” said Jonathan Smithers, the Law Society’s president.

To fight charges levied by one branch of government, you would have to pay another division of government . . . It leads to a feeling there’s a fairly heavy-handed state.”

Taxpayers can appeal to the first-tier tribunal, which is independent of government, when they dispute internal rulings made by HMRC. 

The Ministry of Justice, which is consulting on its proposals, has suggested fees of between £50 and £200 for referring cases to the first-tier tax tribunal, with hearing fees to range from £200 to £1,000 depending on their complexity. Appeals to the upper tribunal would incur an initial fee of £100, plus up to £2,000 for a hearing.

Justice now comes at a price, meaning that many people people will be put off appealing an HMRC ruling; which is exactly what the government wants!

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"

Too Costly To Reveal Costs of Rangers Case

HMRC has refused to reveal the costs of its ongoing five year action against Rangers, on the grounds that it would cost too much to find out the costs.

Despite worrying about the costs of disclosing costs, HMRC has confirmed it will contest the decision of an upper-tier tax tribunal to uphold an earlier ruling on what is known as the Big Tax Case. HMRC wants to pursue the club as a matter of principle, and there is a ­procedural hearing on its latest appeal on February 3.

The ruling that HMRC is contesting said that Rangers' use of employee benefit trust (EBT) loans to players and other staff was legal, and payments were not taxable.

Chris Graham, of the Union of Fans, the Rangers supporters ­coalition, is quoted by the Herald Scotland:

"This is extraordinary. Lawyers are ­meticulous about things like that, they clock all the time they spend on a particular client.

There are question marks over why they are continuing to pursue this when we know they have been offered to settle."

When asked what the costs were to date of pursuing the tax case HMRC, a representative said:

"HMRC holds information that falls within the scope of your request. However, we estimate that it would exceed the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) cost limit to deal with it."

That limit, he said, was the cost of one person working for three-and-a-half days.

"Normally, HMRC would explore with you how you might be able to narrow or refine your request so that it did not exceed the FOIA cost limit. However, in this case, I cannot see any scope for doing this.
Even if we had been able to find and extract all the information in the scope of your request, we would never release anything which could be linked to an identifiable person; be that an individual, company or any other entity."

It's not HMRC's money, it's taxpayers' money; taxpayers have the right to know what government organs are spending their money on.

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"