Rayner Exonerated by HMRC in 7 Months!

 

On 1 April I stated:

"Figures from HMRC show that in the last four years the average length of time that Stamp Duty Land tax (SDLT) investigations have taken to complete is an average of 35 months. Rayner admitted she may have paid the wrong tax on 5 September last year, only seven months ago…"

This morning, Pippa Crerar (a political activist posing as a Guardian journalist) broke the news that Rayner has paid the £40K tax due and has been exonerated by HMRC of any wrong doing and was not "careless".

Tax experts, eg Dan Neidle, are having trouble believing this. 

Disregarding whether she was "careless" or not, I am having serious trouble believing that a case that would normally take HMRC 35 months to investigate, has been sorted out in 7 months.

Ordinary taxpayers would not receive such swift service!

Please can someone in HMRC explain how it is that Rayner (on the very day there may be a leadership challenge) has received clearance from HMRC so quickly? 

BTW, Rayner has been able to find this £40K because she has just been paid £50K by a newly formed company Refrigeration House Ltd for "staff costs".

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"

Rayner's Desperate Attempts To Publicly Pay Her Tax Bill

 

It seems that Angela Rayner’s team ‘constantly’ contacted HMRC in the weeks before local elections, to settle her £40k stamp duty bill; if "sources" to the media are to be believed. 

The calls were made in an attempt to resolve the outstanding £40,000 stamp duty she owes on her Hove flat. 

Sources (hers by any chance?0 say her team reached out “constantly” during that period. An interesting approach, given that people can volunteer to pay HMRC tax anytime they want to.

Timing, and publicising these "constant" attempts, is everything!

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"

Angela Rayner's £40k Stamp Duty Dodge: HMRC Finally Wakes Up and Opens Investigation

Morning, you lot still battling HMRC's helpline hell while the bigwigs play fast and loose with the rules. Spare a thought for the ordinary punter getting hammered for a late filing, because up in the gilded corridors of power, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has just been caught short-changing the taxman by a cool £40,000 on her swanky £800k seaside flat in Hove.

That's right – our Angela, the firebrand who spent years railing against Tory tax dodgers and calling positions "untenable" when the likes of Nadhim Zahawi got tangled with HMRC, has now got the Revenue sniffing around her own affairs. She bought the three-bed pad back in May 2025, paying a measly £30k in stamp duty by claiming it was her only gaff. But thanks to some fancy footwork with a family trust (set up for her disabled son, fair play on that front), complex "deeming provisions" meant she still counted as owning the old place. Result? She should have coughed up the higher second-home rate – £70k total.

Blames "inaccurate legal advice" from conveyancers who insist they never gave tax advice at all. Used HMRC's own online calculator, apparently. Sound familiar? It's the same shambolic system that spits out wrong answers for the rest of us, but when you're a minister, suddenly it's everyone else's fault.

Now HMRC's launched a proper probe – looking at whether it was "careless" (code for penalty time, potentially another £8k-£40k on top) or worse. Interest already ticking up at punishing rates. And this from the woman whose government is eyeing even higher property taxes while preaching about "closing the tax gap".

Hypocrisy on stilts. If this was a Tory, she'd be leading the baying pack. Instead, she's referring herself to the ethics watchdog, promising to pay up, and hoping it all blows over. Meanwhile, you and I get penalties for honest mistakes because we can't afford "expert counsel".

Tax does have to be taxing.
But for the elite, it seems optional until the spotlight hits.

Amazon "Cheer Yourself Up After Yet Another Politician Tax Scandal" Suggestions
(affiliate links – because retail therapy is the only therapy we plebs get)

• Seaside Getaway Candle – dream of Hove without the tax bill
• "Rules For Thee But Not For Me" Mug – perfect for your morning brew
• Stamp Duty Calculator Stress Ball – squeeze it hard
• Hypocrisy Detector – though it'd explode around Westminster
• Gin. Large bottle.

 

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"