Corporation Tax Yield From Investigations Falls

The FT reports that HMRC's large-business service, which deals with the 770 largest UK  businesses, collected an extra £3.17bn in tax in 2012-13 from its investigations, an 8% drop from £3.44bn the year before – and a 25% drop on 2010-11. 

 

HMRC quite rightly have pointed out that the yield fluctuated because it involved a relatively small number of cases that were responsible for a large proportion of revenues and the time to resolve issues was uncertain, particularly if litigation was involved.

“HMRC’s job is to enforce the large-business tax rules as passed by parliament. We do this extremely effectively, bringing in £23bn additional revenues from large businesses since 2010 alone. 

HMRC exceeded its target for additional revenue raised from large businesses as a whole in 2012/13 and we have year-on-year increases in our targets for the next two years. The actual amount of yield will naturally fluctuate from year to year, depending particularly on major cases where inquiries are ongoing.”

Naturally the yield will vary from year to year, HMRC is not a commercial enterprise that seeks to increase its revenue each year.

Sadly, thanks to the ongoing political campaign waged by those who should know better about companies paying a mythical "fair share" of tax and the general hysteria in the media whipped up by those who know nothing about corporation tax, HMRC will doubtlessly be unfairly and wrongly criticised for the fall in yield.

The reality is that as tax is reduced, as corporation tax has been, so is the incentive for companies to engage in "aggressive tax planning".

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 Issues Missed RTI Deadline Letters

HMRC is sending out around 167,000 letters this month to employers who have missed one or more deadlines for reporting PAYE.

As one Twitter wag commented, it is ironic that a government that takes a year or more to respond to enquiries and to issue reports etc expects the rest of us to report in real time.

As per HMRC:

"More than 1.6 million employer PAYE schemes, covering over 40 million individual records, are already reporting in real time since the launch of new reporting requirements in April, and any employers who have failed to follow the new process have been urged to act now by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Employers or agents (acting on behalf of their clients) who have set up unused PAYE schemes should contact HMRC to close them. 

This month, around 167,000 employers who have missed one or more deadlines for reporting PAYE will receive a letter. Employers need to act now and start reporting in real time. If employers have not reported because they don’t pay anyone, the PAYE scheme has closed or it is no longer operating, they still need to let HMRC know by calling our Employer Helpline. More information can be found here.

HMRC’s Director General for Personal Tax, Ruth Owen, said
“Over 85 per cent of employers are now reporting PAYE in real time but our records show that 167,000 employers have yet to send us a PAYE submission. Reporting PAYE in real time makes it easier for employers to pay HMRC the right amount and avoid late payments and penalties.

“If agents have set up, on behalf of their clients, PAYE schemes that have never been used - or their clients’ PAYE schemes have now ceased - they should call HMRC to close the scheme.”

PAYE information reported in real time is already being used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to calculate Universal Credit amounts paid to people in its pathfinder pilot in the north west of England, ensuring the amount of benefit accurately reflects their level of income.

Notes for editors
1.  Employers who have already missed a deadline for reporting PAYE information received a letter in June. We also wrote to all employers in October 2012, and again in February 2013, to let them know how to prepare.
2.  Real Time Information (RTI) represents the biggest change to the payroll system in over 60 years. It is designed to reflect the labour market fluidity of the 21st century and deliver improved accuracy to employers and employees. RTI means employers and pension providers report deductions and payments they make to HMRC at the time they are made, rather than after the end of the tax year, as at present. This enables the tax system to better ensure the right tax is being taken at source.
3.  The RTI pilot was launched in April 2012 with just 10 employers and, by the end of the pilot on 5 April 2013, over six million individual records were being reported in real time.
4.  HMRC believes many of these PAYE schemes can be closed because they don’t have any employees linked to them. However, it is important to note that there are some employers who are required to operate a PAYE scheme for expenses and benefits. In this case, employers should either submit a nil Employer Payment Summary (EPS) each month or contact us to change the scheme to annual and then send us a nil EPS once a year.
5.  HMRC is not writing to employers who have registered their PAYE scheme as an annual scheme."

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 To Access Credit Card Records

As from 1 September HMRC now has the power to access credit and debit card records paid to UK business dating back four years.

HMRC claim that no personal data, such as cardholder information or card numbers, will be collected. However, it will be able to acquire information relating to the number and value of transactions completed by any individual trader.

HMRC says it will analyse the data by cross-referencing and comparing with information it already holds to flag up and subsequently investigate noticeable differences.

Syria vote absentee David Gauke is quoted by economia:

“Tax evasion and the hidden economy cost the taxpayer £9bn a year. While the majority of traders are honest, they may find themselves undercut by the minority who seek to lower prices by cheating the tax system. 

The government has given HMRC nearly £1bn to tackle fraud and evasion, and these new powers give HMRC an extra tool to ensure a level playing field between businesses, and also reducing opportunities for those who try and cheat the system.” 

The first requests for the data will be sent to merchant acquirers this week and from next year this will be an annual request.

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 Customer Service

HMRC recently published its half yearly briefing entitled "How are we doing? HMRC's April to June 2013 performance".

It blames less than stellar customer service levels (we are not "customers"!) on the extra work caused by RTI.

That being said HMRC brought in an extra £4BN in tax revenue over the quarter. However, HMRC handled 77.6 % of all contact centre call attempts during the period (its target being 90%!). This sub par performance was blamed on:

- "technology related issues"
- putting more people on employer helplines during the introduction of RTI

HMRC has delayed the introduction of new automated speech features on phone lines which it originally planned to bring in at this time, so it could answer more calls. These are now being trialled and will be rolled out later in the year.

Suffice to say, with the reallocation of staff to call centres, HMRC's post handling has suffered only 70.3% of it mail has been cleared with 15 days (its target being 80%).

Much like a balloon, if you squeeze one part of HMRC another part will pop!

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 31 Year Old "Child"

My thanks to a loyal reader who shared this experience about being chased by HMRC over child benefit for a "child" who is in fact 31 years old!

"HMRC need a radical over haul - I have just spent 31.42 minutes on the phone (29 of those on hold) to ask why I have received a letter about Child Benefit, my only child is 31. 

Apparently it was a mistake, I pointed out that as a tax payer I objected to my money being wasted in this way. I was told the call was being recorded - I said this was excellent news because if this came back to haunt me in the form of HMRC chasing me for money I could not possibly owe them I would be asking for copies of the recording."

Aside from the error itself (let's face it, errors happen in all organisations), it seems that HMRC's call answering time is still an issue.

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"

RTI Survey Deadline Extended

Following requests from employers and stakeholders, HMRC has extended the closing date of its RTI survey from 13 September 2013 to 20 September 2013.

The question is, once the survey is closed, and HMRC has analysed the results, will HMRC publish the results?

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"