£1M Claim Against HMRC

A WEST Norfolk woman is demanding £1 million compensation and is fighting to change tax laws after a nightmare, 10-year battle with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Read the full article in the Fenland Citizen.

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"

"Efficiency" Savings

There was a rather interesting take on the effectiveness and value of the "efficiency" savings being implemented by government organs, such as HMRC, in yesterday's Guardian.

In effect the Guardian reasons that costs are not being saved, but are being swept under the carpet and being passed on to others attempt to clean up the less left by a newly "efficient" and "cost effective" government organ:

"Look at the "cost savings" made at the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs. Both these flagships of public-sector reform have been subject to top-down makeovers along approved factory lines. Dumbed-down "front offices" sort and feed incoming cases to specialised processing sections in the "back office" in the belief that these mass-production techniques will cut the unit cost of transactions and harvest economies of scale.

Even in manufacturing, economies of scale lost their grail-like allure when the Japanese discovered how to make small quantities of different, high-quality goods cheaply. In services the case is at best unproven (banks, anyone?), and so far the successes in shared services are few and far between. But even if they do make transactions cheaper, that's irrelevant if from the citizen's point of view the service is worse, requiring more transactions to put right. And it takes no account of the disbenefits of the efficiency measures elsewhere in the system.

Thus the HMRC and DWP cost savings recorded in official figures reappear, with interest, in the workloads of harassed local councils, housing associations, police, courts and advice agencies. They have to pick up the pieces left by the failure of HMRC and DWP's demoralised staff and fragmented processes to provide an acceptable (rather than cheap) tax and benefit service.

Much of the work of the UK's voluntary advice organisations now consists of dealing with mistakes affecting the most vulnerable in society perpetrated by New Labour's efficiency flagships."

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"

Strike

I am advised that the PCS Union have called for industrial action commencing next Monday. All members have been asked to down tools from 9am to 11am, and again from 6pm to 8pm.

This action, if it takes place, will affect the services provided by call centres.

Staff have also been asked to ignore work codes, which will put them at risk of disciplinary action and negatively impact call centre statistics.

I have looked at the PCS website, and cannot see anything about this mentioned there. Does anyone have any more information about this?

Updated 25 April 2009

My thanks to the individual who posted a link to the relevant page on the PCS Site.

The action has been postponed:

"..the Group Executive Committee (GEC) has agreed to postpone the start of action for four weeks from the intended start date of 27th April in order to allow time for an audit of and further negotiations on how Real Time Monitoring (RTM) will be used in relation to individuals in the future."

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"

Fantasia

Yesterday's fantasy budget, based on an unachievable 2011 growth forecast of 3.5%, was remarkable in many respects.

Aside from the fact that national debt has now shot up to £1 Trillion (see below), it proposed among other measures:

- Fines for tax advisers who are incompetent.

- A requirement for Finance Directors (FDs), of large companies, to personally certify that adequate controls are in place to prepare accurate tax computations. They will be personally fined £5K if they fail to do so.

- HMRC to publish a quarterly list of names and details of individuals and companies who have been penalised for deliberate defaults.

Why are these proposals so wrong?

1 Re financial advisers, the onus is on the client of the adviser to claim redress for incompetence not HMRC/HMG. This is an unnecessary, and unwelcome, extension of HMRC's powers to levy fines and regulate commercial relationships between third parties.

2 Re FD's certifications, this goes against the principles of company law whereby the board has collective responsibility; and is yet another excuse to raise revenue by levying fines.

3 Re the "name and shame" suggestion, as "morally satisfying" as that may appear, it may well breach human rights legislation and goes against the central tenets of HMRC; ie never to reveal an individual's/firms' tax affairs. It will also be open to abuse by HMRC, who will use it as a stick to threaten people who they "suspect" (but don't have proof) of misstating their tax declaration.

So much for KPMG's call for "simplification"!



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"

Happy Budget Day!

Expect higher taxes, broken promises, flawed statistics, fanciful forecasts and "bigging up" rhetoric from Darling and Brown today.

Despite the fact large segment so the budget have already been leaked to a compliant media, the devil will of course be in the detail; which will only become apparent once the professionals have gone through the reams and reams of documents, relating to the budget, produced by the Treasury.

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"

Gone Fishing

Barrister Keith Gordon, of Atlas Chambers, has set up a blog covering his appeal against the right of HMRC to ask the "service company" question in tax returns.

This question was introduced in 2008, and has caused controversy over its legality and confusion as to what constitutes a "service company".

Needless to say, if the hapless taxpayer neglects to fill in the "service company" section of the tax return (where he technically should have done) even though his tax return gives rise to an accurate assessment of his tax liability, he will liable to a fine.

KERCHING!!!!

Barrister Gordon is of the view that a tax return should be designed so as to include only questions that are statutorily permitted, and directly relevant the calculation of an individual's tax liability for the year under review.

Quote:

"HMRC do not have the right to ask additional questions merely on the grounds that it is administratively convenient (for them) for such questions to be addressed."

He goes on to warn of the dangers of the new powers given to HMRC as from 1 April 2009. They permit HMRC to ask any taxpayer for any information "reasonably required by [HMRC] for the purpose of checking the taxpayer's tax position"

HMRC have until 13 May to respond to his appeal.

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"