HMRC's Offshore Debt Collection Racket

 

The Times reports that debt collection firms hired by HMRC and local councils include some that have owners based in tax havens, eg LCS owned by Anderw Barclay who based in Jersey.

Another of the companies is owned by a family that ran a notorious payday loan firm.

DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Tax Investigation Insurance

Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.

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Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.

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Media Needs To Learn The Difference Between Evasion and Avoidance

The Scotsman gleefully reports that

Edinburgh is one of the top spots for UK tax avoiders, a new investigation has revealed.

That is all very well and dandy, until you read the article and discover that the writer was referring to a report which said:

"The capital is home to 145 people who have admitted underpaying tax from offshore investments last year...

....
Colin Wright, chairman of UHY Hacker Young group, said: “HMRC’s crackdown on taxpayers offshore is prompting more individuals in Edinburgh to come in from the cold and make a voluntary disclosure.

“The growing resources at HMRC’s disposal means there is nowhere to hide for taxpayers with undeclared offshore interests. It, therefore, makes a lot of financial sense to make a disclosure as this can reduce penalties from up to 200 per cent of unpaid tax to less than 100 per cent.”

He added: “HMRC does not discriminate and will come down hard on all taxpayers with undeclared offshore interests – even if an error on a tax return arises from a genuine mistake. It is therefore important that taxpayers keep their affairs up to date.”

In other words, unless the underpayment was due to a genuine mistake, these underpayments were tax evasion NOT tax avoidance.

Therefore will the media and politicians please get it into their heads that avoidance and evasion are two entirely different things; one being legal, the other being illegal!


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.

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HMRC's Staff Shortage Limits Investigations

International Investment reports that HMRC does not have the staff to investigate all the offshore tip-offs it gets, after being swamped with a staggering 5.7 million pieces of information about overseas bank accounts held by three million British citizens.

The information is coming from 100 countries under common reporting standards (CRS) agreed by the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The standards are designed to stop tax evasion, or avoidance, by making governments aware of overseas money held by their citizens.

However, BDO state that becuae HMRC has a staff shortage it is instead sending out a series of "nudge" letters to the people named asking them to send details of their financial affairs in an attempt to uncover incidents of tax evasion.
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



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No Statutory Requirement To Sign HMRC Certificates

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) means that financial institutions such as banks and trust companies now automatically report their clients’ interests in offshore assets to the ‘home’ tax authority.

As a result, HMRC now has with an unprecedented level of data regarding UK individuals with interests in assets overseas.

The FT notes that there are many years’ worth of data to plough through, so HMRC must do this quickly and efficiently (said without irony), otherwise there is a danger that much of this information will never be analysed and opportunities will be lost.

Following receipt of this data, HMRC has been writing to tens of thousands of taxpayers, asking them to sign a formal document certifying whether their tax affairs are in order or whether they need rectifying.

The certificates highlight that there is a risk of prosecution if taxpayers “make a false statement or complete a false certificate”, which leaves people open to possible criminal investigation if an error is later found in their tax history, even if such an error arose because of oversight rather than something more sinister.

Note well what the FT says:

Despite these letters being sent and received, there is actually no statutory requirement to sign the certificates, or even to reply to HMRC at all.

That said, the letters should not be ignored.

Caveat being that you would be wise to take professional advice.

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



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Sort Yourselves Out...Or Else!

The UK will begin to receive financial information from over 100 countries. Make sure your overseas tax issues are in order by 30 September or you will face tougher penalties. This can include overseas properties, bank accounts and investments https://t.co/pc1nXZjfmI pic.twitter.com/HtNSn5z5fM

— HM Revenue & Customs (@HMRCgovuk) August 1, 2018

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"

No Prisoners!

This dude was on BBCNews earlier, he didn’t take any s**t then either. #Newsnight pic.twitter.com/yQOAp8Wgzs

— Ben (@Jamin2g) November 6, 2017

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"

Tax Advisers Face £3K Fine For Not Issuing HMRC Threat

Tax advisers have less than 30 days to avoid a £3,000 penalty from HMRC by complying with a little known new legislation imposed by HMRC.

The FT Adviser reports that a notice published in September 2016 stated financial advisers, accountants and solicitors with UK resident clients who have an account with offshore money or assets in it, should send a letter provided by HMRC to those clients.

Advisers who do not send this letter by 31 August 2017 could be subject to a £3,000 tax penalty.

The letter, which demands UK residents bring their tax affairs up to date, states “the tax world is becoming more transparent” and closes with the threat, “come to us before we come to you”.
If you’re classed as a ‘specified financial institution’ or ‘specified relevant person’ - which includes financial advisers - you may need to send the notification letter to clients who are UK tax resident.

The criteria for this are, if you’ve provided them with financial advice or services, provided them with an overseas account, referred them for an overseas account or referred them for advice or services overseas.

According to HMRC website, the covering letter must include your usual branding, your client’s name and address on set text.

If you’re a financial institution the set text must say:

“Financial institutions in more than 100 jurisdictions around the world are being legally required to find out the tax residence of their account holders and report details of their accounts, structures, trusts, and investments to be exchanged with the appropriate tax authorities.

As a UK tax resident, any overseas accounts you have will be sent to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). This gives HMRC unprecedented levels of information to check that, as in most cases, the right tax has been paid.

If you have already declared all of your past and present income or gains to HMRC, including from overseas, you do not need to worry. But if you are in any doubt, HMRC recommends that you read the factsheet attached to help you decide now what to do next.”

A spokesperson for HMRC said:

"The new legislation was designed to make people aware that HMRC will soon be getting data about offshore accounts from over 100 jurisdictions; there’s a disclosure facility, and penalties and other sanctions are going to get worse so come forward now.

It’s being sent by tax advisers and financial institutions because – at the moment - they know more about who is likely to get reported to HMRC. It’s right that these industries play their part in raising awareness on automatic exchange."

Call me old fashioned, but I think it's a tad unpleasant that HMRC use others to issue threats on its behalf!

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



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Relocation, Relocation, Relocation!

The National Audit Office has today published a report that rubbishes HMRC's plans to reduce the costs of running its estate.

The NAO wants HMRC to adjust the scope and timings of the project, in order to reduce the risk of service disruption.

As of November 2016, HMRC was responsible for one million square metres of buildings across the country, making it the fourth-largest estate in central government. Annual estate running costs stood at £269m in 2015-16, which pays for the accommodation of 58,600 staff.

Under the programme, HMRC will transition from 170 widely dispersed offices to 13 regional centres, with an additional four specialist sites and a central London headquarters. This will see 137 offices close by 2021 and involve 38,000 employees moving to the regional centres or leaving the department altogether. Some may need to relocate by up to 174 miles if they want to keep their jobs.

The scale of the savings that HMRC can make is limited by its Private Finance Initiative contract with Mapeley, which does not expire until 2021.

Under this deal, HMRC sold its freehold properties, which amounted to two-thirds of the estate, to Mapeley for £370m, then immediately leased them back, with Mapeley providing facilities management and maintenance services.
 

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, is quoted by Public Finance: 

“HMRC has improved the handling of its current contract with Mapeley and achieved better outcomes, though significant risks remains.

Looking ahead, HMRC has acknowledged its original plan for regional centres was unrealistic and is now re-considering the scope and timing of the programme.”

He advised HMRC to “step back and consider whether this strategy still best supports its wider business transformation and will deliver the sustainable cost saving it set out to achieve in the long run”.

The legacy of Mapeley!

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



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HMRC Building Our Future - Mapeley

My thanks to a loyal reader who directed me to Hansard 28 April 2016 wrt

HMRC: Building our Future Plan

 

There are numerous mentions of our old friends at Mapeley and the significance of 2021.

Happy reading!

Chris Stephens

I suspect that the word “Mapeley” will come up in the course of this debate, so let me touch on it. I referred earlier to the more than 700 offices formerly used by HMRC. Mapeley Estates snapped up more than 130 of them for its offshore property portfolio after loading itself up with debt in order to front up its side of this rotten charade with the then Government: 84% of the funding that Mapeley obtained to acquire that lucrative contract came in the form of loans. That shabby deal with a shabby company comes to an end in 2021. For the privilege of renting publicly built offices sold off for a song, HMRC will have the right to occupy buildings, with leases based on market terms” after that date. That is very generous of Mapeley.​

I commend the National Audit Office on its 2009 report on the deal. It is redolent with phrases such as, “the Department has not achieved value for money…The Department did not fully appreciate the risks… The Department has not had strong processes to monitor the overall cost of the contract and whether it is achieving value for money”.

The Exchequer Secretary admitted to this House last year that the end life of the Mapeley contracts represented a “one-off opportunity to make this change to the estate footprint.”—[Official Report, 24 November 2015; Vol. 602, c. 1300.]

That is part of the truth behind the closures—a private finance initiative deal worth billions from the public purse, used to enrich a Bermuda-domiciled corporate entity, with the public left with nothing at the end of 20 years, except the right to sign a commercial lease.

I will end with the words of a PCS member and HMRC employee, my constituent Bobby Young, who is chair of the PCS Revenue and Customs branch:

“Whilst my branch welcomes the news of a slight increase of jobs in Glasgow, we absolutely oppose it if it comes at the cost of jobs elsewhere. Communities from Bathgate to Bootle will be devastated by these closures—that is not a price worth paying for the sake of a few extra jobs in Glasgow.”

If anyone should know about prices, it is an employee of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Sadly, it seems that their superiors know very little about value.

Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)

I recently discovered that the ownership of the leases of HMRC offices—this has already been mentioned by my hon. Friend—was transferred to a company called Mapeley in 2001. You could not make this up, Mr Deputy Speaker. Where is Mapeley based? In the Bahamas. That is right: HMRC pays rent to a company registered in a tax haven. To quote the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, this Government have scored a “massive own goal”. Who stands to profit from the sales of HMRC local offices? You guessed it: Mapeley again. Why not use local council offices that may be available, and then any profits from the rents would go straight to the Treasury?

Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP)

Perhaps the Minister will be able to answer some of our questions today, but I must emphasise that debates alone will not be enough. We need the people behind these proposals to come here to explain them directly to Parliament. That would allow Members to get stuck into the nuts and bolts and to get behind the management-speak and buzzwords that are too often passed off as answers. If that does not happen, staff and taxpayers will be left questioning whether HMRC is really “building our future”, as the glossy brochure states, or whether this is in fact a question of buildings forcing our future. It has already been pointed out that this is taking place in the context of the expiry of the extraordinary contracts that were entered into in 2001, when 600 or so properties were sold to the offshore company, Mapeley Steps, and then leased back, PFI-style, to HMRC. Those contracts expire in the years leading up to 2021. In the absence of answers to our questions, many will conclude that this is more about digging HMRC out of the hole that it jumped into in 2001, rather than being about any kind of strategy. That is the only conclusion open to us.

Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)

Well, Minister, it’s all a bit of mess, isn’t it? I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) on securing the debate. He touched on staff morale, the workforce figures and the fact that there has been no ministerial statement. Along with several other hon. Members, he also mentioned the shameful Mapeley contract, signed—I am sad to say—by a Labour Government who did not realise at the time that it was an overseas company.

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"

Blair Got Advice From Hartnett

As loyal readers know, HMRC is keen to promote its "customer friendly" credentials and is often at pains to point out that taxpayers (sorry "customers") can get in touch with HMRC to discuss their tax queries etc.

Well it seems that HMRC are not kidding, that is at least the case for ex Prime Ministers anyway.

It appears according to reports in the Times that Tony Blair, when he left office, was granted (or at least his advisers were granted) an audience with Dave Hartnett.

For why?

Blair wanted to arrange the most tax efficient structure for some form of offshore trust that would handle his "consultancy" income from various foreign organisations/governments. Reporters were told that Blair uses an interest-in-possession (IIP) trust to receive payments from his consultancy work

Economia reports that MPs are expected to write to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to call for an investigation into “special treatment of high-profile individuals by HMRC”.

The question is, if you or I had asked for an audience with Hartnett would we have received the same treatment that Blair got?

Oh and by the way, re yesterday's article about HMRC's consultation on a new offence aimed at businesses which fail to prevent tax evasion.

Will that apply to HMRC as well?


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



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Question For Our Political Masters

Would it be a good idea for MPs to make statements of assets & liabilities. Like we plebs can be required to do by HMRC. #MakingMischief

— Andrew Brooks (@taxbod) April 11, 2016

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"

Troup's Offshore Dalliance

As the political and media hoo-hah continues over offshoring, and the related tax implications, it appears that neither HMRC nor the Guardian have a sense of irony over the facts that HMRC's property management company is Mapeley (which has an offshore presence) and that the Guardian has itself used (maybe still uses) an offshore vehicle.

Anyhoo, that aside the media (eg the Guardian) reports today that:

"The boss of Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the government department overseeing a £10m inquiry into the Panama Papers, was a partner at a top City law firm that acted for Blairmore Holdings and other offshore companies named in the leak.

Edward Troup, executive chair of HMRC since April, is a former partner at Simmons & Simmons, whose clients have included the Panama-registered fund created by David Cameron’s father, Ian."

Whoever said that HMRC doesn't do irony?

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"

Cameron's Moral Outrage

In June 2012 I wrote about the howls of moral outrage emanating from David Cameron about Jimmy Carr's tax avoidance scheme.

Cameron boldly proclaimed to the world that Jimmy Carr's tax arrangement "isn't morally right". 

I also noted:

"I would also remind the Prime Minister that raising a hue and cry over tax avoidance (eg in the form of the investigation of civil servants on off payroll schemes) is all very well, but what happens when your proud boasts to end these schemes come to nowt?.....

...Cameron has got himself well and truly stuck on top of the Savage Mountain (aka K2), not only will his "promises" to deal with these schemes come to nowt, but he has effectively declared open season on every Tory MP, every Tory candidate and every Tory donor. The media and other interested parties will pore over their finances with a fine tooth-comb, and one by one every single tax avoidance scheme (that the PM finds "immoral") will be made public (I guarantee there are hundreds of Tory MPs and Tory donors etc using these such schemes).
Cameron has lost touch with reality, in a desperate attempt to grab a soundbite and pander to the anti avoidance lobby.
To repeat what I said yesterday:

"Avoidance is a perfectly normal human thing to try to do, the politicians are not in a position to lecture the rest of us on "morality."

A politician lecturing us on morality is as natural as a cat walking on its hind legs."

In July 2012 I wrote:

"David Gauke said that the government will name and shame wealthy people who use "aggressive" tax avoidance schemes. Gauke went on to say that companies offering such products will be forced to hand over details of their clients."

Fast forward to 2016, and it transpires that Cameron had a modest holding in an offshore fund (set up by his father) which he sold in 2010. 

Now of course there is nothing illegal in that. However, to have spent some years venting his spleen against tax avoidance makes him look a tad hypocritical does it not?

As I have noted on several occasions on this site, politicians who rage against tax avoidance will one day find that their public moralising will come back to bite them on their arses; as a politician lecturing us on morality is as natural as a cat walking on its hind legs!

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 Hypocrisy

Despite the government's and HMRC's anti offshore rhetoric, HMRC is more than prepared to use companies that are offshore.

In a more than ironic twist, a multimillion-pound HMRC publicity campaign to stamp out tax evasion and avoidance used an advertising agency ultimately controlled in an offshore haven.

The Times reports that HMRC spent more than £6 million on the campaigns, including £300,000 specifically on offshore evasion.

Among the agencies used was TNS, a research agency, whose ultimate parent company and controlling party is WPP, the world’s biggest advertising company which is incorporated in Jersey.

As ever with the government and its organs, it's a case of do as we say not do as we do!

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



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HMRC Too Busy To Chase Evasion

The Office for Budget Responsibility said the measures to collect tax from tax evaders who use tax havens such as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man would raise just £270 million, rather than the £1.05 billion which had been trumpeted (a £780 million shortfall).

The OBR is quoted by the Mail:

“HMRC is less optimistic about how much of the lost yield can be recouped through additional compliance activity, on the basis that they are unlikely to be able to work the higher number of additional cases on top of existing workloads.”

As ever HMRC will focus on the low hanging fruit.

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"

Tax is Legalised Extortion

My thanks to a loyal reader who pointed me to a Private Eye article that delved into Edward Troup's (Executive Chairman of HMRC) past, and reminded us all that he is very much anti taxation.

As per The Eye:

"Troup became a vocal and effective opponent of proposals to clamp down on tax avoidance, in keeping with his infamous view in a 1999 Financial Times comment piece that tax is “legalised extortion” and that seeking tax avoidance advice is “not immoral”."

The article also notes that he is a fan of offshoring.

Poacher turned gamekeeper, or a sign of a change in direction of government policy?

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 Confidentiality of Tax Data In Google's Servers

A loyal reader suggested yesterday, given HMRC's use of Google's apps and offshore data centres, that people have a look at the Google for Work Security and Compliance Whitepaper.

I have had a wee looksey, and a few things spring to my mind:

1 I note that "if customers delete their data, we commit to deleting it from our systems within 180 days". That means "deleted" tax data may sit within Google's servers for up to 180 days after "deletion".

2 Whilst Google claims not to scan data for placing adverts, "Google indexes customer data to provide beneficial services". To my simple mind, that sounds a bit like scanning data to me.

3 Regarding confidentiality, it seems that Google staff can see HMRC data; "only a small group of Google employees have access to customer data."

4 Tax data appears to be open to access via government requests (with or without HMRC's, or indeed HMG's, permission), "Google may receive direct requests from governments and courts around the world about how a person has used the company’s services".

5 Google may also engage third party suppliers.

It doesn't seem so confidential to me. However, these are just my thoughts, please feel free to add your own.

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's Special Relationship With Google

As the media, the politicians and the taxpayers of Britain work themselves into a frenzy over Google's £130M deal with HMRC; let us not forget that HMRC has a special symbiotic relationship with Google.

As a loyal reader reminded us all today, HMRC was the first major government department to move to Google Apps as reported by The Register in June 2015.

David Fitton, head of public sector sales for Google UK, wrote on Linkedin at the time:

"The acceptance by HMRC that they can store OFFICIAL information offshore in Google data-centres represents a major change and endorsement of Google's approach to managing sensitive information."

The key thing there is that the data is stored in offshore data-centres.

Therefore, when people moan about Google's offshore tax arrangements, let us not forget that HMRC love a bit of offshoring too (as indeed does their estate management company Mapeley)!

That's what's known as a "special relationship".

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"

Boastful HMRC

HMRC's recent boast in an advert in the Sunday Times, in which it states that more than 90 countries and jurisdictions that are set to commence the sharing of financial information on UK taxpayers, has been called into question by tax professionals.

Doubts have been raised over whether HMRC can readily handle, and make use of, the information garnered through the arrangements.

Nigel May, a senior tax partner at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, is quoted by AccoutancyAge:

"Campaigns like this are all well and good but questions remain over the ability of HMRC to use the information they gain from this high profile action. 

We have found that similar previous advertising tended to flush out taxpayers who had in fact fully complied and were just terrified by the inherent underlying threat.
And we also know of other instances of cases where there was undeclared tax due of under £100 which would undoubtedly have cost the revenue more in administration costs than the small sum they received."

Time will tell as to whether HMRC's boasts reflect reality.

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"

Offshore Tax Evasion - A Question of Proof!

The Chartered Institute of Taxation says that the proposed £5K statutory minimum threshold of tax evaded, wrt offshore evasion, is not high enough to protect people in the more complex cases.

The threshold, set by HMRC, is meant to ensure that people who make errors over relatively small sums of tax do not receive a prison sentence of up to six months.

However, CIOT want the threshold to be raised to £25,000.

John Cullinane of CIOT is quoted by Contractor UK:

“We are pleased to note that there will be a statutory defence of reasonable care.

This will be vital in limiting the scope of the offence.
But it would be a stronger safeguard for the taxpayer if the burden of proof was on HMRC to prove that reasonable care had not been taken, rather than being on the taxpayer to prove they took reasonable care.

We are also concerned that this proposal could be counterproductive for HMRC because the fear of prosecution, with no need to prove intention on HMRC’s part, could discourage taxpayers from coming forward voluntarily.”

As ever with HMRC, the concept of innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply!

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"