System Problems

 

Seems that there may be some HMRC MTD VAT issues impacting the system availability

Anyone else having difficulty?

— CheapAccounting.co.uk & TaxBootCamp.co.uk (@cheapaccounting) December 13, 2021

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC Multiple Systems Crashes

It seems that HMRC's systems (the ones that taxpayers use) have been up and down like yoyos this week.

Given that January is the time when many file their tax returns, this is not the best time for this sort of shenanigans!

Apparently the HMRC systems are just down for Agents i.e. Accountants

I know HMRC don't like accountants but preventing us from doing our job is a bit extreme

Perhaps we should sue them for "Discrimination Against Accountants" https://t.co/FbUbjtkEU1

— Elaine Clark - CheapAccounting.co.uk expert (@cheapaccounting) January 9, 2020

HMRC and the 650 journeymen in the Commons are taking the p**s. The HMRC website has stopped working for the THIRD time this week. Time for @sajidjavid to step up to the mark and cancel late filing penalties for 31 January 2020. #hmrc

— Stuart Jones (@StuartJones) January 9, 2020

Does anyone know why this is happening?


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?

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Computer Says No

The https://t.co/EX1v1Ldgi6 website after I clicked Continue has advised me "There is a problem". Is this to reassure me that because NASA managed to save Apollo 13 with less computing power than an automatic washing machine, Her Majesty's Government will be able to sort out MTD?

— Stuart Jones (@StuartJones) August 28, 2019

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"

PAYE Crash Workaround

My thanks to loyal reader Paul Gibson (he has given me permission to publish his details) a 75 year old ex IT Director. He currently develops business applications in Visual Basic for several charities, for one of which he also runs the payroll.

He encountered a problem when dealing with HMRC online PAYE, and has provided a workaround for it.

Please note: this may not work for everyone, always take back ups before trying it.

PROBLEM: After running the latest update, Basic PAYE Tools crashes with the error: “Basic PAYE Tools could not access the database”


SOLUTION:

1. Using File Explorer, navigate to directory OS[C:]\Users\User_Name
2. With the View Tab, check “Hidden Items” – the Folder “AppData” should now be displayed
3. Navigate to \AppData\Roaming\HMRC\payetools-rti
4. Take a back-up copy of the complete contents of folder “payetools-rti” as a precaution
5. Click on the “payetools-rti” folder and rename Data Base File “sqlite3” to “sqlite3x” (or sqlite3xx if sqlite3x already exists)
6. Click the “backups” folder
7. Select the latest back up folder with the format:
RTI-9999_YYYY-MM-DD_EXIT and Copy & Paste it to your Desktop
8. Now run Basic PAYE Tools – this may take up to 10 minutes to load as it rebuilds “sqlite3”
9. Under Menu, click “Restore your data”
10. Browse to the directory This PC\Desktop and click the back up folder pasted to the Desktop at Step 6.
11.Click “Next” to restore your data – this will also take up to 10 minutes
12. You should now be able to run updated PAYE Tools with your latest data.
13. If you still have problems, restore the backup “payetools-rti” folder and contact HMRC support.

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 Rickety Computer Systems Crash Again!

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted that HMRC had yet another systems crash yesterday:

"Systems down again yesterday (14th) from early doors throughout the day. Came on intermittently for a few mins at a time then went on the blink again."

It seems that HMRC have managed to keep this away from the mainstream media for the time being.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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

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

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

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

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

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HMRC Systems Down?

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted yesterday that HMRC were down:

"Systems down again from 12PM...what a crap I.T system !!!"

I have had a look on Twitter and Google, but cannot find any mention of this. Have others experienced problems in the last 24 hours?

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"

HMRC Phone Lines and Webchat Crash

My thanks to a loyal reader, who posted a link to a report that HMRC's phone lines and its webchat facility crashed yesterday.

HMRC don't seem to know why this happened.

Please let me know if the problems persist.

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 Email Outage

HMRC had an email outage yesterday:

“HMRC are currently experiencing an ongoing issue with email, preventing communication both in and out.

This is impacting customer submissions and business helpdesks. HMRC apologises for the inconvenience this is causing and is urgently working for a quick resolution. 

Please note that it is only email that is impacted.”

This bodes well for MTD!

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"

Service Unavailable - LOL!

HMRC have just tweeted the following:

"New tax year approaches! HMRC issues tax returns, tax credit & other forms! Update your address online now http://bit.ly/94I9aI"

Click on the HMRC link in their tweet, and it takes you to a page telling you to update your address via an online form etc.

Fair enough!

Click on the link to the online form, and you get this page!

"Service Unavailable
Sorry, due to planned maintenance the service you have requested is unavailable, please try again later or contact the Online Services Helpdesk.

LOL!

HMRC did warn everyone the other week that their site would be down for maintenance around the tax yer end (2nd -6th April), therefore why on earth tell people during this downtime to update their details online?

Tax does have to be taxing.

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To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

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

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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

A Disaster Waiting To Happen

David Gauke, the Exchequer secretary, has given an answer to a written parliamentary question that confirms that HMRC will proceed with the Real Time Information scheme for tax payment.

"I expect HMRC to be in a position to pilot the Real Time Information system with employers, pension providers and payroll bureaux from the spring of 2012."

Really?

Real world experience shows that just because a politician gives a fantasy deadline, the actuality is far removed from fantasy.

Regarding Gauke's fantasy project, tax professionals are not convinced that the deadline is realistic or that HMRC are actually up to the job of implementing this system.

HMRC have given guarantees to the DWP that the system will be in place before the October 2013 deadline for Universal Credits.

This is all very well. However, basic trials of the system will not begin until April 2102; more detailed live trials will not start until January 2013.

What happens if the trials throw up faults that take longer than the October 2013 deadline to address?

Capgemini are being paid to pull this rabbit from the hat.

TechEye quote Matthew Brown, Technical Officer at the Chartered Institute of Taxation:

"This is less of a tax decision and more to do with government department's wishes as this is all based around universal credit proposals.

We are certainly concerned that there is not enough time to prepare for such a project, as most projects would need at least 18 months to prepare the software according to developers, while only one year is being given to get it right before live tests begin."

He added:

"It is a tall order and it means that there is absolutely no room for errors in the system."

HMRC are not known for being "error free".

Online tax forms took five years to be thoroughly tested and put in place.

Any bets as to whether this project will come in on time, on budget and error free?

As noted, politicians tend to avoid reality. Sadly for HMRC this project is being driven by politics and David Gauke is a politician/lawyer not a finance/IT professional.

Tax does have to be taxing.
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Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.
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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 Bleeding Edge!

Computing.co.uk reports that HMRC's Head of IT Security Architecture, Chris Franklin, has ruled out investing in "bleeding-edge" technology (even if it could provide enhanced security).

Quote:

"The trouble with bleeding-edge solutions is they tend to need patches and tweaks.

We have 50,000 users every day, so we can't afford service disruptions. We need mature and resilient services."

Franklin added:

"Any new products and capabilities we implement must be non-intrusive.

Even the smallest change to our online service is a big deal.

Our availability requirements mean that any interruption impacts a large number of customers."

He is absolutely correct, it is better that IT solutions are thoroughly proven to work before they are implemented, and I fully agree that HMRC can't afford service disruptions.

Hang on a minute, what did I write the other day??...ROFLOL!!!!

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"

IT Matters

The Register recently reported that owing to upgrade work last week and over the weekend, HMRC benefits and tax systems have been suffering lengthy downtime.

According to an inside source, who tipped The Register off, the "work hasn't gone very well, specifically in relation to changes to Cisco gear".

As noted, this all happened last week, is everything now working tickedy boo?

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"

Absurd

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) have issued a press release stating that it is absurd that HMRC impose compulsory online filing during a recession.

It notes that HMRC plans to adopt Inline XBRL (or iXBRL) would be the first large-scale iXBRL implementation worldwide. Given HMRC's rather rickety IT systems, how wise is this without thorough embedding and testing?

Governments and their departments/organs of state don't "do IT"...PERIOD!

News Release – ICAS: Imposing compulsory online tax filing during a recession is absurd

It is absurd to require businesses struggling during a recession to introduce a mandatory online tax filing system. That's the view of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) in response to an HMRC consultation on draft laws requiring all companies to submit statutory accounts and tax computations in a revolutionary new data format (XBRL) by April 2011.

HMRC urged to reconsider its plans

ICAS objects to the additional burdens, costs and risks of this during the current recession – when many businesses are struggling to survive and should be concentrating their management expertise on the much more pressing and important task of maintaining productivity and employment.

Donald Drysdale, Assistant Director at ICAS and a Chartered IT Professional, said:

"In his Review of HMRC Online Services, Lord Carter of Coles recommended the use of XBRL, but emphasised that the new standard should not be imposed until it had been implemented and had bedded down. He also noted that other improvements would be needed before the service would meet the needs of tax agents.

Many companies won't be ready for this. It is absurd to require businesses struggling during a recession to introduce this.

XBRL has been used relatively sparingly to date, and HMRC plans to adopt Inline XBRL (or iXBRL) would be the first large-scale iXBRL implementation worldwide, so the technology certainly hasn't been adequately tried, tested and proven to be reliable.
It falls far short of Lord Carter's criteria."

ICAS has been exploring this topic with HMRC for more than two years. The Institute was instrumental in establishing tripartite discussions among Government, the tax profession and software vendors, but now reports widespread concerns that software solutions for preparing iXBRL-based statutory accounts will not be available in time.

Drysdale added:

"It's misguided and disproportionate to mandate iXBRL-based online filing by all companies as early as April 2011.

We've urged HMRC to reconsider its plans in the light of the relatively immature market position of XBRL, and we've asked that Ministers shift to a gradual voluntary adoption of iXBRL filing until the new software for tax and accounts preparation
has been properly tried and tested."

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"

System Problems

I am advised by a tax professional that "due to system problems", attempts to reduce the payments on account of his clients using HMRC's online system (which is used to replace the need to complete a SA303 - Claim to reduce payments on account), have not worked.

The result being that some of his clients have received Self Assessment: Final Demands, and apparently they may receive surcharge notices as well.

To insult to injury, when he phoned his local HMRC office to ask for help they advised him that they couldn't because their internal system had gone down.

The added irony of this story is that it took his clients to advise him of the problem, instead of HMRC.

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"

IT Issues

The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has noted that the number of "open" tax cases was "5.7 million in excess of the HMRC's own target of 10.5 million by the end of 2007–08."

It noted that HMRC has 16.2 million tax cases open, because HMRC's IT systems are unable to cope and clerical intervention is required.

Given this appalling IT situation, how is everyone getting along filing their online tax returns (deadline tomorrow)?

HMRC says it is "very confident" the system will not collapse before the midnight deadline.

No worries!

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"

Still Broken

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is still trying to fix a problem with its online tax filing system, three days after first becoming aware of it.

HMRC, several days ago, admitted that the system for self-assessed taxpayers was still inviting users to pay their tax via a change to next year's tax code.

The BBC note that a senior management meeting will be held by HMRC to try to fix it.

Surely there is a suitably qualified IT specialist within HMRC who can simply alter the coding?

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"

Lost in Cyberspace!

Accounting Web report that HMRC online filing still has a "few" gremlins. One being the disappearance of tax advisers' clients off previously filed online lists.

Quote:

"HMRC are absolutely rubbish.

With the first half of this ridiculous split filing deadline for self assessment approaching we've been through our online client list at HMRC and found 15 clients for whom we filed online last year have disappeared from the list.

Why?

Helpdesk haven't a clue.

If we are to be encouraged to file online PLEASE could we have some consistency from HMRC.

Or is that too much to ask?"

Does anyone have any ideas as to where the "disappeared" have gone?

I suspect that those who designed the HMRC system didn't have a clue as to how the tax system actually works, and those that approved its installation didn't have a clue as to how the IT system would work; ie neither the supplier, nor management of HMRC were up to the job.

"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"

The Sweet Smell of Bullshit - Hardware Fault

Those of you who got stuck in the IT "snafu" with HMRC's online filing system, when trying to file your tax returns online on 31 January this year, may be interested to know what the cause of the systems crash was.

Contrary to earlier stories spread by Dave Hartnett that the crash was down to hacking and other nefarious issues, the real cause is far more mundane.

It was a hardware fault that caused 15,000 people to be unable to file their tax returns.

Quite what the nature of the hardware fault was remains a mystery, as HMRC has not disclosed the exact nature of the fault.

Which is rather odd really, given the fact that they work for us. Don't the taxpayers have the right to know what the problem is, given that we are paying for this "service"?

Is "service" a wee bit of an exagerration?

Tim Burr, National Audit Office Comptroller wrote in his report on HMRC's 2007 to 2008 accounts:

"The department secured assurances from its supplier that the online service could be supported at the expected volumes at the peak period.

However, on the day the hardware problem meant that the level of customer attempts to use the online service could not be supported."

Capgemini supplies IT to HMRC under the "popular" with HMRC's staff Aspire contract, which allegedly aims to overhaul technology and reduce running costs.

HMRC and Capgemini are quoted in Computerworld UK:

"The technical issues were caused by a hardware problem which was triggered by a spike in logins. Our systems had been thoroughly capacity tested but this hardware problem meant that we did not manage the January 31 peak as well as we would have liked."

Bollocks!

The "spike" was puny in terms of professional well run IT systems. Had they really tested it properly, and designed it well, this would not have happened.

Complete Bullshit!

The hardware was replaced in February.

Why did "nearly man" Hartnett tell the world that the crash was down to hackers, given that the real reason must have been known at the time?

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"

Infamy, Infamy, They've All Got It In For Me! II

In March of this year, Dave Hartnett the "nearly man" of HMRC and acting Chairman spoke at an ICAEW Tax Faculty event and addressed the highly embarrassing subject (embarrassing to HMRC anyway) of the online tax filing system crash at the end of January which forced HMRC to extend its filing deadline by a day.

In Hartnett's view this was not an accident, most certainly it was not the fault of HMRC or its IT system.

The real cause?

Deliberate Conspiracy!

Seemingly, according to Hartnett, there had been a mysterious "spike" at 11.10pm on the night of Wednesday 30 January when a number of users (a mere 6,500 users) had all come on to the system for a few seconds, but none actually filed.

Hartnett would not comment further on the issue, except to say that he would share details with the tax world when more was known.

I did note at the time that it was unlikely that even had this been a deliberate denial of service attack (DOS), 6,500 would not have caused a professional, well run IT system to crash.



However, it now transpires that the "nearly man" was talking...errmmm...using my favourite accounting phrase here...

Bollocks!

HMRC now report that is has "categorically established" that there was no attempt to hack into its online filing system on the evening that its computers crashed.

A Revenue spokeswoman said:

"We have now undertaken a thorough investigation into the problems that occurred and have categorically established there was no hacking attempt on the online filing system.

Our investigations show that customers were carrying out a number of activities in relation to their tax returns.

The number filing in the peak period is consistent with filing patterns for earlier years."

Therefore there are two questions that remain unresolved (unresolved publicly at least):

1 Why did the "nearly man" claim that the system had been subject to a DOS attack? Is it possible that the leadership of HMRC don't understand how IT systems operate?

2 Why did the system crash?

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"

You're Not Hired

Sorry folks, this post has been removed because it was complete nonsense.

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"