The Westminster Service

Royal Charter being brought in by the Beadle

Despite all the ridicule and scorn heaped upon HMRC for its decision to hold a service in Westminster Abbey on 23 September, praising HMRC, the service went ahead.

The "great and the good" of HMRC read prayers to "give thanks for the pooling of resources and their effect in the security of the realm, in the education and health of the people, in the provision of relief, and in the promotion of prosperity."

"We honour the manner and means by which taxes are collected."

Pass the sick bag someone!

As per the Westminster Abbey site

23 Sep 2014

A Service to Celebrate the Work of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs was held at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 23rd September 2014 at Noon.

The service was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, who said in his Bidding: 'The neighbours of Westminster Abbey around Parliament Square are the Palace of Westminster, the Supreme Court, and, beside Her Majesty's Treasury, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. It is a pleasure to welcome our neighbours to the Abbey.

'We gather to worship God and to celebrate collaboration. Our focus is not on political decisions about the proportion of people's income and expenditure deployed by Her Majesty's Government. Rather, we give thanks for the pooling of resources and their effect in the security of the realm, in the education and health of the people, in the provision of relief, and in the promotion of prosperity.

'As we recall the origins of HMRC and its current formation, we shall pray for all who are employed in public service, we shall give thanks for the goods provided by the funds raised, and we shall ask the blessing of almighty God on all that is done for the good of the people.'

Judy Clements OBE, Adjudicator, the Valuation Office Agency and the Insolvency Service, read Deuteronomy 8: 7-18 and Leslie Ferrar CVO, Non-Executive Director HMRC, read 2 Corinthians 9: 6-12.

Kay Markham, Needs Enhanced Support Adviser, Personal Tax; and Paul Brown, Director of Marketing and Communications, The Prince's Trust, gave Testimonials.

The Address was given by the Dean.

During the service the Royal Charter was borne through the Abbey church by Officers led by Pat Duffy, Beadle, HMRC.

Prayers were led by The Reverend Christopher Stoltz, Minor Canon and Sacrist of Westminster, and said by: Dorothy Brown, Director, Personal Tax Operations; Colin Ford, Acting Deputy Director, Business Customer and Strategy; The Reverend David Stanton, Canon in Residence; Michael Howe, Director Business Tax Operations; William Hague, Chief People Officer; and Lin Homer CB, Chief Executive.

The service was sung by the Westminster Abbey Special Service Choir conducted by Daniel Cook, Sub-Organist. The organ was played by Martin Ford, Assistant Organist, and before the service by Jeremy Woodside, Organ Scholar.

Here is a link to the Order of Service.

Here is a link to the Sermon.

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 Seeks Divine Intervention

As loyal readers know, HMRC and its CEO Lin Homer have been having something of a rough time of it recently.

Under such circumstances it is natural for people to feel despondent and stressed out. Thus Homer has sought divine help, in the form of a VIP service is to be held at Westminster Abbey on 23 September.

Apparently the service will be a vehicle used to recognise HMRC's work collecting revenue. Guests will include staff, civil servants and partners; they will participate in a service that will pay tribute to HMRC.

Apparently, according to HMRC's way of thinking, the service will boost staff morale!

Disregarding the fact that I personally don't believe in god, I would like to make a number of observations:

• In the event god exists, would he/she really want a religious service for a civil service department?

• I assume that some of the staff invited may not themselves believe in god, how then precisely does this help staff morale?

• Despite the fact that, according to the bible, "we should render unto Caesar what is Caesar's etc" (Mark 12:17) the bible wasn't quite pushing for us to worship tax collecting authorities.

•  Is Homer so desperate (or deluded) that she believes that she is on a holy mission?

• God should be kept out of politics and the civil service (irrespective of the fact that we live in a country where the head of state is also head of the church).

Out of interest, has any loyal reader received an invitation to this event?

If so please could he/she drop me a line?

Thanks.

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"

War Is Declared II - Hodge Speaks Out

As I noted on Tuesday, today is the day when Margaret Hodge (Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee) is going to make a speech at Policy Exchange (a think tank) in which she fans the flames of the war between the mandarins in Whitehall and PAC.

I understand that she will call for the Freedom of Information Act to be extended to companies and other organisations that deliver government services.

Now this would be very useful for those of us with an interest in HMRC, given that a large number of crucial functions (eg IT, printing etc) have been outsourced to the private sector. It would be very interesting for example to learn if contracts with these companies have penalty clauses for when projects are delayed, fall apart or when services fail (eg printing errors etc).

Anyhoo, by way of a taster for today's speech the BBC have provided some extracts:

"Lately, it seems that the Public Accounts Committee has been rattling the cage too much for some.

There are those who say that shows we're doing our job properly, but there is a real challenge from the civil service on how we are approaching our work on behalf of Parliament and the taxpayer.

Some have upped the ante, even asserting that the PAC's activism affronts some constitutional principle - of which the civil servants consider themselves custodians. Anonymous briefings suggest that some would even like to dismantle the committee itself...

But it's our job to blow the whistle and shout loudly when the evidence before us is that the executive is not doing a good enough job. That is going to be uncomfortable for both ministers and the civil service."

Regarding GOD, now Lord O'Donnell, she will say that in a letter he wrote to her shortly before retiring he:

"..berated me for the way in which the Public Accounts Committee was seeking to hold the executive to account.

He was particularly exercised about the hearings we had held during the autumn involving HM Revenue & Customs investigating how it had tackled tax disputes with large corporations and specifically the settlement it had made with Goldman Sachs.

It was as if he had taken on the role of shop steward for aggrieved permanent secretaries.

 ...old doctrine of accountability isn't fit for the 21st Century.

It's our job to blow the whistle and shout loudly when the evidence before us is that the executive is not doing a good enough job. That is going to be uncomfortable for both ministers and the civil service.

Rather than responding defensively, the civil service should embrace the opportunity. It is in all our interests for this to happen. It will help all of us to deliver better public services with better value."

Regarding the exchange of letters between Ms Hodge and GOD, Exaro have a copy of Hodge's response:

"Dear Gus,
 
Thank you for your letter of December 20, which I now understand has been widely circulated across the civil service.

I was rather surprised by your criticisms about the way the public accounts committee conducted our inquiry into HMRC’s handling of tax disputes with large corporations. As you are aware, £25 billion is outstanding in unresolved tax bills and the role of HMRC governance is critical in explaining why this substantial sum remains unresolved.

As a direct result of the committee’s inquiry, major systematic failures in the governance of HMRC and the way it handles tax disputes with large companies were uncovered. In several of the largest settlements examined by the National Audit Office, the department did not comply with its own procedures, and the same senior officials were involved both in negotiating and in approving deals, which is simply inappropriate. 

In the case we looked at, Goldman Sachs, there were extremely serious questions about the role played by the permanent secretary for tax [Dave Hartnett], whether appropriate legal advice was sought and acted upon, and the veracity of the evidence he gave to the Treasury select committee.

The committee was very disappointed by the failure of senior officials to assist us actively and answer our questions in a spirit of openness and transparency. Some of the evidence given to, and seen by, the committee was, at best, inconsistent and, at worst, misleading.

• First, there was a clear discrepancy between Dave Hartnett’s statement to the Treasury select committee on September 12, 2011 that “I know nothing of Goldman’s tax affairs… I do not deal with Goldman’s tax affairs,” and the internal minute of the meeting that took place in Anthony Inglese’s office on December 8, 2010, which referred to “a deal on which DH had ‘shaken hands’ with GS” to settle an outstanding tax dispute.
• Second, at our hearing on October 17, 2011 Mr Hartnett told us that he had informed Mr Inglese, as HMRC’s most senior lawyer, that there had been a mistake with the Goldman’s settlement on Monday November 22, 2010 – the day the mistake was identified – or “very soon after”. At our subsequent hearing on November 7, 2011, Mr Inglese told us that Mr Hartnett had not informed him of the mistake until December 7, 2010, more than two weeks after the deal had been done on November 19, 2010.
• Third, at our hearing on October 12, 2011, Mr Hartnett said that no disciplinary action had been taken against anybody as a result of the mistake. However, at our hearing of November 7, 2011, he said that “the error was taken into account in someone’s annual appraisal… It affected their non-consolidated pay, because there was no pay rise that year.”

These are serious concerns that should be addressed by the cabinet secretary. However, in this case, you told us your powers were limited because HMRC is a non-ministerial department. I would be grateful if you would set out how, in these circumstances, senior officials are held to account in carrying out their duties with “honesty and integrity”.

Your letter also makes various points about constitutional matters. Over recent times, Parliament’s role in holding the executive to account has strengthened. The public’s expectations in relation to transparency and accountability are greater, and this is reflected in the way select committees approach their work. 

As a result, there have been useful developments in conventional practice that have improved accountability and public understanding. For example, on a number of occasions in recent years (such as with Sir John Gieve on the disclaimer of the Home Office accounts, Catherine Bell on government support for MG Rover and, very recently, Dame Helen Ghosh on the Rural Payments Agency) the committee’s inquiries have been materially assisted by the attendance as a witness of the department’s former accounting officer who had held responsibility and knowledge at the time of the matters under discussion. While such occasions are infrequent, I have no doubt that they have enriched the committee’s understanding and helped us to serve the public better.

If we accepted all conventional past practices we could not respond to expectations of the present. The civil service will merely be seen as having things to hide if it follows the outdated and defensive path of action you propose. Furthermore, past conventions would not help us in holding properly to account departments that do not have ministerial oversight. I hope you would agree that the lack of ministerial oversight makes parliamentary oversight even more important.

I have worked in many government departments and have the highest regard for the civil service. I have seen at first hand the commitment of civil servants, and, if you read all the PAC reports, you will see that we warmly acknowledge success and good practice. However, I believe it is the duty of the committee to pursue fearlessly the public and taxpayers’ interest whenever and wherever we deem it necessary.

You also raise concerns about our questioning of Mr Inglese. In taking evidence from Mr Inglese, our aim was simply to get to the bottom of a settlement that he himself is on record as suggesting may be “unconscionable”. His advice was at the heart of understanding the truth to a particularly tangled and unacceptable story. Requiring a witness to swear an oath should indeed be a rare step, taken only in exceptional circumstances. I am surprised that you are not more concerned about the circumstances that made it necessary on this occasion.

Finally, in your successful time as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service you have dedicated a considerable part of your tenure in trying to deepen its capacity – an enterprise in which the PAC has been an ally. Now you have moved on and I wish you well. I look forward to my committee working constructively with all those who succeed you and all those called to give evidence in the future.

Yours sincerely
Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP
Chair of the Committee"

A well written and scathing response to GOD (BTW, Goldman Sachs rather hit the headlines yesterday courtesy of Greg Smith).

The key to the problem of oversight and accountability, is that HMRC is non ministerial department. However, the risk of placing it in the hands of a minister is that it becomes more politicised than it is already; when in fact it should be (at its "simplest") a non partisan bureaucracy that collects taxes in the most cost effective and efficient manner possible.



Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

War is Declared!

Now here's an interesting thing, last year's public drubbing of "Jack" Hartnett and HMRC's General Council Anthony Inglese (who was forced to take an oath) by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over HMRC's handling of the Vampire Squid and Vodafone has not gone down well with the civil service.

As I noted in December last year:

"When it comes to self loathing, no one and nothing does it better than politicians and the State; especially when they viciously turn on one of their own departments.

Therefore it should come as no surprise whatever to read the "public damnation" of HMRC by the Public Accounts Committee ."

Anyhoo, senior mandarins are less than gemused and have, according to Exaro, "declared war" on MPs over the constitutional implications of civil servants being treated in this manner.

Such is the anger felt by the mandarins that GOD himself (the recently retired Gus O'Donnell) wrote to Margaret Hodge (Chairman of PAC), at the end of last year before he was elevated to the Lords, to tell her that civil servants should not be accountable to Parliament and are only accountable to ministers.

In the letter to Hodge GOD accused PAC of using the hearings as a “theatrical exercise in public humiliation”, adding “praise certainly can be a more effective tool for change than blame.”

Hodge is making a speech this Thursday in which she is expected to reveal the contents of a dossier of anonymous, highly critical comments from civil servants and government lawyers who object to PAC's conduct.

At the very centre of the storm is the treatment of HMRC's Hartnett and Inglese.

Hodge is quoted:

"I would agree that Whitehall seems to have declared war on Parliament.”

Aside from Thursday's speech by Hodge, which will stir things up, PAC is adding further fuel to the fire with its ongoing examination of contracts that allow senior civil servants to avoid tax.

This "war" between mandarins and Parliament will of course do nothing to help HMRC improve its service or internal moral; as its failings/improvements will be used as a political football by both sides.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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 Hypocrisy - GOD Approved The Ed Lester Deal

Documents obtained by Exaro show that Sir Gus (now Lord) O’Donnell (GOD), as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, approved Ed Lester's special pay deal.

It also seems that Danny "Beaker" Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury, was informed of the plan, although he has said that he was unaware of any potential tax benefit to Lester.


Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

The Truth

Members of the Commons Public Accounts Committee took the unusual step of making Anthony Inglese CB, General Counsel and Solicitor HMRC, swear an oath at yesterday's PAC hearing into HMRC Accounts and Tax Disputes.

For why?

 

It seems that the committee did no feel that they were getting answers from Inglese.

For why?

He repeatedly declined to answer questions, citing taxpayer confidentiality.

I am amused to read this about him in The Lawyer:

"The veteran lawyer does admit to getting a thrill from reading about his work in the national press. 

'It’s exactly why I wanted to join ­government'.."

LOL!!

I guess he will be delighted to read this then!

Sir Gus O’Donnell (GOD) KCB, Cabinet Secretary, and Dave "Jack" Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax, HM Revenue and Customs also appeared.

Inglese and Jack admitted admitted that mistakes had been made in the deals with Vodafone and Goldman Sachs (the giant vampire squid).

The committee chairman, Margaret Hodge, asked why HMRC appeared to have a special relationship with such big businesses that allowed them to do deals in a way that would not be possible for smaller businesses or individual taxpayers.
 
Jack managed to undermine what he said at a previous hearing (when he claimed that he had been advised by an HMRC official that there was a "legal impediment" to charging interest) by stating that an official from HMRC (not him) had lost his bonus as a result of the deals.

"The error was taken into account on someone's annual appraisal."

Why didn't Jack also lose his bonus, given that he signed off on the deal?

Farcical!

Watch the farce here The Farce.



Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

GOD's Retirement Message

My thanks to the loyal reader who posted GOD's (Gus O'Donnell) retirement message (see below).

I wonder if GOD has had time to sort out the paperwork for Strathie's new job?

"I wanted to let you know that I am announcing my retirement today, after over six years as Cabinet Secretary, Head of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office. I will be leaving the civil service at the end of the year.

I have really enjoyed my time at the Cabinet Office and am extremely proud of the highly professional work that you do right at the centre of government. I have been a civil servant for 32 years and remain convinced of the importance of our traditional values of honesty, objectivity, impartiality and integrity in underpinning all the work that we do.

Turning to the future, we are taking the opportunity to restructure roles at the top. The Cabinet Office has expanded and taken on new responsibilities since the election. In recognition of this, it will be led by a dedicated Permanent Secretary. Ian Watmore, currently head of the Efficiency and Reform Group, will take on this role. Jeremy Heywood will take over as Cabinet Secretary. There will no longer be a Permanent Secretary at No.10. The role of Head of the Civil Service will be taken on by one of the current departmental Permanent Secretaries, after a competition. He or she will provide leadership to the civil service alongside their existing departmental responsibilities.

I would like to thank you all for your continuing hard work and commitment to public service. These are difficult times, but I am confident that you will continue to demonstrate professionalism and pace in facing the challenge of delivering better services with fewer resources. I am also sure that you will provide my successors with the same enthusiastic support which you have given me, and for which I am so grateful."



Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Downfall

Such is the perceived mess that HMRC is in, and the animosity felt by many towards Dave "Jack" Hartnett, that GOD, or to give him his mortal name Gus O'Donnell (the cabinet secretary) is to investigate demands from senior MPs for a fundamental reform of HMRC.

The Guardian reports that Margaret Hodge, the chairman of the public accounts committee, met with GOD and told him that he had to consider how to bring greater accountability to HMRC's dealings with big business.

Some MPs are now claiming that Hartnett was "out of control", and that there were no effective checks and balances on him in Whitehall or Westminster.

Well, 20/20 hindsight is all very well and dog whistle politicians do rather love to attack wounded animals. However, I would venture to suggest a few points:

1 Hartnett's behaviour, and HMRC's issues, have been widely publicised for a number of years. Were these same MPs all asleep during this period?

2 HMRC is (theoretically) under the control of Parliament. Therefore the failings of HMRC and its senior officers are (when the "final buck is placed upon the table") attributable to our "respected" elected representatives.

3 These elected representatives, who are howling for blood, are the very same people who have devised our "buggers' muddle" of a tax system, merged IR with Customs, ordered the restructuring and cuts within HMRC, appointed people such as Strathie and Hartnett and generally enjoy various tax privileges and avoidance schemes that the rest of us are not privy to.

Hartnett refuses to answer journalists' questions about his arrangements with Vodafone and Goldman, saying that taxpayers' affairs must be confidential.

Hodge on the other hand has said that she wanted O'Donnell to accept that corporations were not entitled to the same privacy rights as individuals.

The public accounts committee also wants HMRC to be accountable to the National Audit Office, and for the NAO to have the right to brief MPs in confidence about controversial decisions. HMRC refuses to give the auditors detailed accounts of big tax disputes, once again citing the need for confidentiality.

As you can see, this is developing into a power struggle between Parliament and HMRC. This is rather ironic, given that HMRC is meant only to be a bureaucratic arm of government responsible for the efficient and cost effective gathering of taxes.

Something, somewhere in the past seems to have given HMRC ambitions above its "position" in the grand scheme of things.

Whatever the outcome of the battle between HMRC and Parliament, Jack's position has become untenable.

All lofty ambitions end one day, shattered and decaying into dust.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Jack's Back - By Popular Demand!

By popular demand the ever entertaining Dave "Jack" Hartnett made his encore yesterday before the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Margaret Hodge (Chairman) made Jack feel very welcome, by stating that the committee would not "let matters rest from last week".

Hodge went on to say that the Cabinet Secretary (GOD - he who soon leaves orifice) had requested a meeting, and that the committee would decide after that meeting what ‘further action’ it was going to take wrt HMRC.

PAC could force open the settlement agreements that forgave the giant vampire squid (Goldman Sachs) £10M of tax and Vodafone £4.75BN. There are also two other companies with similar tax agreements with HMRC that remain secret.


Hartnett told PAC that HMRC was ready to talk in confidence, and would ‘support the NAO’ in its work.

How very "nice" of him and HMRC!

Does that not sound as though HMRC and Hartnett are getting a tad above themselves?

Have I not warned many times on this site about HMRC taking on powers and politicising itself, in an attempt to place itself above its brief of being a bureaucracy whose mission should be solely to collect taxes in an efficient and cost effective manner?

Anyhoo, Jack confirmed that he would write to the committee regarding legal advice received on taxpayer confidentiality. He claimed that he was in discussions with lawyers, and would clarify the precise rules governing taxpayer confidentiality "by Wednesday" (doesn't he know the rules after all those years in the job?).

Stephen Barclay MPO accused Jack of misusing confidentiality rules to "cover up his own mistakes".

Jack admitted that he had not sought legal advice before settling the case with Goldman, based on the view that HMRC could not pursue it because of the technicality.

Mr Barclay retorted that it "sounded like" he had "cut a deal and didn't tell anyone".

Jack blustered that there was "far more" to the case than had been discussed, but it could only be revealed in a confidential session.

Aha!

The whole case seemed "very odd", said Mr Barclay.

Quite!

Enjoy watching Jack's encore performance via this link Jack's Back.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

GOD Quitting

The above breaking news may be of interest to some of my loyal readers.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Curiouser and Curiouser II

My thanks to the loyal reader who posted the text of Lesley Strathie's News Board message to the troops, telling them all to keep sending her emails (see below).

It seems The Grande Dame wrote it in a hurry (as there is a grammatical error - well spotted by the loyal reader!).

The underlying "message" within the message is that she wants you to believe that she is coming back.

She is not coming back.

As to the precise date of the announcement of her departure, GOD knows.

The Kremlinologists amongst my loyal readers may want to think about that.

The text:

 "As I explained my message (sic) to you on 19 July, whilst I am out of the office, Mike Clasper, HMRCs non-executive chairman, will provide leadership and direction to the Department on my behalf as Chief Executive. Dave Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax, has taken on the role of Principal Accounting Officer (PAO) on an interim basis, and will be accountable for the Department's performance and the money we collect and spend.

Although the work is being managed differently for a while, emails should continue to be directed to me, and my Office will either action, or re-allocate to Dave Hartnett or Mike Clasper accordingly. 

This is important for ensuring there is a clear handover and audit trail for my return.

I very much look forward to being back with you all in the autumn."

Finished with a flourish of a photocopied signature of DLS, dated 31 August 2011.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Faith

My thanks to a loyal reader who has advised me that HMRC Directorate appears to have lost faith in some of its management in at least one HMRC centre.

It seems that in at least one HMRC centre, control over the people survey (or rather the follow up/response to the results of the people survey) has been moved from management to the Directorate.

Senior Management Teams (SMTs) are local management groups usually led by a G6 or G7 looking after Senior Officers (SOs). I am advised that SMTs have failed to improve engagement scores in their areas, so the response to the people survey has been handed to the Directorate.

This change in control implies that ExComm have lost faith in the management on the ground (in at least one centre).

The fact that control has been passed up the line at least shows that ExComm are trying to address the issues raised in the last survey. However, will this change in control actually lead to an improvement, or is this merely a sacrifice of SMTs to appease the gods?

In the event that the Directorate fail, will they be sacrificed as well?

Serious questions need to be asked as to why SMTs were unable to "engage" with local staff and work with them for an improvement?

Does this mean that Pacesetter (the sacred totem of ExComm) is in effect flawed and failing?

Feel free to comment and share your views and experiences.

More will follow.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Delays

My commiserations to the loyal reader who sent me this note (edited) yesterday, re problems that he has been having obtaining a tax refund:

"I have been waiting for a tax refund of £XXXX since I received a letter in June stating that the refund would be in my bank account 'in the next few days'.

I waited four weeks, as stated on the message when you ring to enquire, after this 4 weeks I was told that HMRC had put the wrong details on the cheque they had sent to the bank.

HMRC then said they would have to re-issue it which would take 3 weeks... that was in July, it is now coming up to October and still nothing they can tell me.

This has cost me a house as the money was for a deposit I was supposed to put down in July, and now I am faced with the prospect of cancelling a holiday I had booked and paid for, rather stupidly thinking that surely they would have paid me by October?

This is making my life a misery, and probably is for many thousands of other people who live under the rule of this god-awful system. They cause such hardship in people's lives, and there is absolutely no recourse whatsoever."

I believe that he is considering making contact with Panorama about this issue.

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"

Bernard Ingham's View

Unedited, as per The Yorkshire Post:

"WHEN in doubt, set up a committee. That is the politician's answer to everything. It is often an elegant response to a knotty problem because, like Royal Commissions, committees can take minutes and spend years. Just what parties in power, if not the public interest, order.

And so, while his colleagues are culling quangos, Chancellor George Osborne has set up a new one. It's the Office of Tax Simplification, otherwise known as OOTS.

Unfortunately, we are in no position to grumble about OOTS. Osborne said he would establish it two years ago because, as was his wont, Gordon Brown had taken a complex system and complicated it. The new Chancellor has appointed a former Tory Minister, Michael Jack, and John Whiting, a former PriceWaterhouse tax partner, to sort out the mess.

So far so good. But what sort of dog's breakfast has Brown left behind? OOTS' usefulness turns on the answer.

It goes without saying that the tax system is complicated. There are a lot of vested interests behind its complications. As an eminent Scottish lawyer once told me over dinner, budgets were his bread and butter. I gathered that the more impenetrable they made the system, the fatter he became. Gordon Brown was God's gift to tax lawyers.

Since the 1999 Finance Bill, tax legislation has grown at an alarming rate. So have the penal regulations introduced since self-assessment tax returns were issued in 1997.

On top of this came the merger of the Inland Revenue with Customs and Excise in 2004. Rubbing shoulders with tough Excisemen brought up on nabbing smugglers has, it seems, done nothing for the taxman's dubious PR skills.

The result, according to accountants I know, is a deterioration in the relationship between taxman and taxpayer. HMRC are the masters now. I cannot personally testify to this since, in my lazy way, I employ an accountant to devil for me. He is not a complaining sort.

But I am clearly no more representative than is Naomi Campbell of models in taking post-prandial delivery of "blood diamonds" – or "dirty-looking stones" – on her bedroom doorstep. Last year, HMRC records it received 73,455 complaints and has even set aside £30.7m for legal costs in appeals that taxpayers are expected to win.

In the first half of last year, 20,778 taxpayers asked for an independent review – mostly for late filing of returns – and more than half either had the penalty withdrawn or cut.

These figures do not testify to respectful relations between the public and tax collector. Nor does the awesome total of 18 million unresolved cases covering both over- and under-payment Messrs Jack and Whiting clearly have their work cut out.

It may well be argued that, if – and hope springs eternal – they can simplify the system so that I can understand it, the problem will solve itself. But will it? All I hear suggests that it is not just a matter of complexity; it is also one of attitude. In other words, it is not just a matter of bad law; it is a matter of the public servant's approach to the citizen – as I fear it is in so many branches of our bureaucracy.

I speak as one who recognises that avoidance of tax is a national industry and that no Revenue officer should be born yesterday – or expect to be loved.

But the readiness to impose ever increasing penalties, some of which can have serious implications for contractors' continued operation in business, the difficulty of finding and reaching the appropriate office, the time taken to make simple repayments and the excuses offered demand more of OOTS than mere simplification.

It probably does not help that there are competing chartered institutes of accountants in this green and overtaxed land. They surely bear some responsibility for our tax system being up to its knees in the Brown stuff. Perhaps the public would have been better served if they had spent more time on insisting on good law and less on ever more complex methods of tax avoidance in pursuit of their own profit.

It is probably a good thing that OOTS is trying to simplify our hopelessly complex system of providing the wherewithal for the nation's operations. But I trust it also feels it must look at the spirit in which the Revenue conducts its essential business.

Unless it does, Osborne will not realise his ambition of showing the world that Britain really is open for business. It must clear the air as well as the Statute Book."

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's Fairy Godmother

It's nice to see that those running HMRC believe in fairy tales.

Following on from sacking Adam Hart-Davis, as a result of his less than complimentary interview about HMRC, a new face to front HMRC has been found.

None other that "veteran" (I don't mean old) newsreader Moira Stewart.

Ms Stewart will make her TV comeback using the slogan:

"Tax needn't be taxing."

A variation on the old tag line "tax doesn't have to be taxing".

Appearing as a fairy godmother, she will tell taxpayers how to fill in tax forms.

Rather disconcertingly an HMRC spokesman said:

"We envisage her spearheading the campaign for some time.

Her relaxed manner will get people in order.

She has authority and a serious reputation."

"Get people in order!"???

I can't say that I care for the implications of that turn of phrase!

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"