HMRC Unjustly Enriched

Citywire reports that thousands of Prudential with-profits investors could be in line to receive a share of around £150M after a High Court judge ruled that HMRC had unfairly taxed ‘several thousand dividends’ between 1990 and 2009.

Quite remarkably this case has been running for 10 years, and might affect other providers of similar with-profits funds eg; Aviva, Royal Sun Alliance, Standard Life and Legal & General.

Mr Justice Henderson ruled that HMRC had unfairly taxed the funds in question, and should reimburse Prudential policyholders the tax paid with compound interest.

The judgement read:

‘The Revenue remains unjustly enriched until the date of actual repayment… the interest forms part of the restitutionary claim itself. I would reject the Revenue’s submission that the claimants’ only entitlement is to simple interest...compound interest forms part of the principal sum that needs to be awarded in order to achieve full restitution.’

The ruling is open to appeal by HMRC, which said it was considering the judgement ‘carefully’ before deciding whether to appeal.

Thus it may well continue to run for several more years!

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"

Chris Mortlock To Leave HMRC

My thanks to a loyal reader who penned me a line over the weekend about the impending departure of Chris Mortlock Head of Operations & Security - IMS Live Services at HMRC (as per LinkedIn).

As per Agile Across The Board:

"As Head of IT Solutions Development and Operations at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Chris is accountable for: the update, development and operational running of systems and services that collect in excess of £130bn a year for the UK; and the provision of systems and services to UK Border Force and law enforcement communities that help protect the UK. Chris is currently leading the development teams that are enabling HMRC to deliver a step change in its digital service offering through the development of digital services using agile methodologies.

Previously, Chris held the position of Deputy Director of Security & Risk at HMRC, where he was responsible for the transformation of the IT security processes and systems after the Poynter Review."

Subject to confirmation he will depart for CSC (a provider of consulting and IT services to many of the UK’s leading organisations) on 20th December 2013.

CSC states the following:

"Many of our clients are responsible for the country’s infrastructure and security – including the UK Border Agency (UKBA), National Grid, Network Rail, and Transport for London, Royal Mail Group and the NHS – and they use technology powered by CSC."

Interestingly one of its clients is Aviva, which Phil Pavitt joined in January this year as did Mark Hall in October.

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"

A Reader Asks

A loyal reader has asked me to ask others on this site if there are any forums or support groups for former clients of Christopher Lunn?

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"

RTI Little More Than an Extra Click of a Button

Mark Paraskeva, CEO of SME Division at IRIS Software Group, assesses how businesses are coping with the introduction of RTI six months on (source ComputerWeekly.com):

"It has now been six months since the introduction of Real Time Information, but it seems that many small businesses are still having issues complying with the new legislation. Regardless of your opinion of RTI, it is here to stay so you need ensure your business is compliant.

In a recent announcement, HMRC revealed that 83% of small to medium sized businesses are successfully making RTI submissions, and approximately 44.5 million payments made between 6 April and 5 May were successfully reported in real time.

However, it has also been revealed that up to 600,000 PAYE schemes are still not complying with RTI. HMRC has already started contacting these non-compliant schemes with the possibility of penalties if they fail to achieve compliance.

Many businesses have reported problems when trying to file submissions using HMRC's free online PAYE tool. Some businesses have been unable to make submissions due to gateway downtime and other unspecified issues with the software.

As well as these issues, feedback we have received is that since HMRC updated the tool earlier this year, the system requirements have been increased, rendering many employer's computers incapable of running it. After the update the minimum requirements for HMRC's tool are:

•    Intel 2.8GHz processor
•    1GB RAM
•    500 MB available hard disk space

Some employers whose computers do meet the minimum requirements have still found that the software is not running smoothly on their systems.

If you have been having issues with HMRC's free tool, there are other options available. Some commercial payroll software providers have free RTI compliant software. However, these are aimed at smaller businesses with fewer than 10 employees and are only designed to handle a basic payroll.

Employers with more complex infrastructures or more than 10 employees could be better off looking at paid for options. When choosing a software supplier it is important to look at exactly what you will be getting. Choosing a provider who also offers support can be a huge advantage, especially with complex legislative changes such as RTI and automatic enrolment. If you can, it is a good idea to look for a provider who offers a "complete solution".

On top of paid for training, certain suppliers have also been offering free online introduction courses, whitepapers, advice lines and "health checks" to asses company's specific needs.

Looking past a few initial teething problems, it seems that the worst of RTI is behind us. Feedback we have received has told us that once you have your software in place and your data has been input correctly, complying with the legislation is little more than an extra click of a button."

Fair assessment?

As ever, views and comments from both RTI end users and HMRC staff are very welcome.

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 Staff Quit In Large Numbers

The FT reports that HMRC staff are quitting in their highest numbers for four years.

A total of 1,697 staff left in 2012-13, the largest figure since 2008-09.

HMRC appear to be relaxed about this an HMRC spokesman said:

“This has not affected performance – the most accurate measure of the tax gap shows it is going down, last year’s yield was our biggest ever, and we carried out over 700 prosecutions.

The popularity of our online services has enabled us to move staff away from the mass processing work of the past into more specialised and skilled work of tackling evasion and avoidance."

Is it not those with many years of experience etc that are the ones who are leaving?

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"

A Reminder To Politicians - Don't Count Your Chickens

HMRC can only collect what is legally due.

HMRC's Edward Troup was quoted by the Telegraph:

"Our job is to collect tax [and we follow] the law as it stands." 

Oh, and re the same article, in July I wrote:

"The trouble with the ongoing politicisation of tax (or rather the mechanisms involved in collecting tax) is that the politicians and media "professionals" involved in the spin are apt to "overspin" the issues and potential results etc.

Such appears to be the case with the "landmark" tax agreement between the UK and Switzerland, which Osborne heralded last year as:

"The largest tax evasion settlement in British history."

Fast forward to the present day and we see...cough... that it now looks set to raise much less revenue than expected, according to an update from the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA).
Osborne expected to raise £5BN over five years, of which £3.2BN of revenues expected this year have already been included in the government’s borrowing figures."

It seems that the reality will be around £440M this year and £782M, in total, since an agreement was signed.

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"