Money Saved

The Southport Visiter claims that the closure of HMRC's Southport tax office will generate savings.

However, it will take 20 years for these savings to materialise.

I guess that the lengthy time horizon is part of the "Vision" thing that HMRC are following.

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"

Advice To Alistair Et Al

Lads and ladettes, you might want to read this:

Source PA:

A HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) spokesman said:

"It's a general principle of tax law that accountancy fees incurred in connection with the completion of a personal tax return are not deductible. This is because the costs of complying with the law are not an allowable expense against tax. This rule applies across the board."

How ironic that the Chancellor doesn't know the tax law!

In his defence, as I have noted before, tax regulations etc have become inexcusably complex and cumbersome (thanks in no small measure to his boss's ten year tenure at Number 11). It is scarcely surprising that cabinet ministers needed help with their tax returns.

Could this little "episode" provide the impetus for simplifying the tax system?

Ermmm...no...Brown doesn't do "simple"!

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"

Oh The Irony!

How ironic that the self same MPs, who have been bleating on and on about the "immorality" of tax avoidance, have themselves been using taxpayers' money (as a tax deductible item) to fund advice to ensure that they avoid tax themselves.

As we all know, though some of us don't like, tax avoidance is perfectly legal; no matter what Hartnett, Brown, Darling et al might try to have us believe.

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"

Blears - The Tax Overpayment

It seems that Blears has made a tax overpayment, if Dave Hartnett's tax assessment of her zero liability for CGT is accurate.

Telegraph

"I've got round to asking after Hazel Blears and her cheque, which I mentioned a while back. My query was prompted by an item in the Independent's Pandora diary which claimed she was minded to hand the money over to a charity rather than see it credited to her future tax liabilities. What I've discovered rather increases the pressure on Geoff Hoon and James Purnell, who also face some property/CGT questions.

According to her office, on the day Ms Blears popped up in front of the cameras waving her cheque, she spoke to Dave Hartnett, the permanent secretary for tax at HM Revenue and Customs. Mr Hartnett is, in effect, the country's top tax man. He worked out for her what her capital gains tax liability would have been had she been liable for one. However - this is the crucial bit - he assured her that she was not liable and therefore did not have to pay the cash. Ms Blears, in line with the point she has made that her constituents aren't impressed even if it was legal (no kidding), decided to pay the cash anyway, and was given a special dispensation to do so. The cheque was walked around to HMRC headquarters that evening and handed over to a senior official, who had stayed behind to receive it.

The cheque has been cashed, I'm told by Ms Blears' advisers, and is now sitting in an account at HMRC. What happens to it now is unclear. If it goes into the general Government account and therefore becomes available to pay for hospitals, nuclear weapons, or police uniforms, Ms Blears will be happy. But if HMRC rules that it can only be credited to her by offsetting it against her future liabilities - in effect repaying her the money - she will make an equivalent contribution to a charity.

Which is why all eyes are on Messrs Hoon and Purnell to see how they respond. Ms Blears has set them a precedent."

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"

Silly Billies!

Having warned us all of the dangers of responding to unsolicited emails, claiming to be from HMRC (in reality coming from scammers), HMRC are now getting in on the act and are sending unsolicited texts and voicemail messages.

Never respond to an unsolicited text, voicemail or email (whether it seems to be from HMRC or not).

HMRC just don't seem to be able to get their heads around data security/scamming risks.

Source Director of Finance:

"PKF Accountants & business advisers is warning individuals not to respond to HM Revenue & Custom’s (HMRC) latest attempts to contact taxpayers by text or automated voice messages to save money.

Just two weeks after issuing warnings about the latest identity theft scams perpetrated by fraudsters claiming to be HMRC, the Revenue announced on Monday that it is to try contacting taxpayers by automated voicemail messages and text message.

Matt Coward, Director of Personal Tax at PKF, says: “We are urging individuals and businesses not to respond to any of these sort of messages as it is just not safe”.

On its website, HMRC has warned taxpayers to only respond to a text or automated message that quotes specific telephone numbers – 0191 225 5348 for tax or 0845 300 3900 for tax credits issues.

Coward commented, “How is anyone receiving a text or call purporting to be from HMRC to know whether or not it really is from the tax authorities?

Perhaps the only giveaway that it is a genuine number, is that the tax helpline always seems to be engaged – a fraudster would at least want to answer your call!

But, ultimately, does HMRC really expect every recipient to spend time digging around on the Revenue website to check out that the response number is genuine?”

Coward continued, “I know that HMRC is duty bound to try to save money and to look at all communication technologies, but this is clearly a waste of time. I suspect that most people will simply put down the phone as soon as they realise that the call is automated. With text messages, few will expect to receive one from HMRC so, one hopes, they would treat it with the utmost suspicion.

“If HMRC wants to try out these technologies they should do it via an “opt in” system and the messages should carry some form of personalised accreditation so that taxpayers who have registered, know they are genuine. But in my opinion, HMRC should simply use the funds spent on such exercises to clear its huge backlog of ordinary post from those taxpayers who have taken the trouble to contact them by letter."

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"

Muddying The Waters

The Government's controversial car scrappage scheme (bangers for cash), has hit another hurdle courtesy of the HMRC "guidance note" about the scheme.

The car industry claim that the note had "muddied the waters".

A Honda spokesman was quoted in The Times:

"We have asked our dealers to hold off registering vehicles. We want to see clarity with this issue of VAT and how the industry contribution is to be managed.

The document sent out last week from the Revenue was quite a confusing document. This is what we are seeking clarification on."

Another example of a poorly thought out government "initiative" adding to the complexity of the already massively overcomplex tax legislation.

However, as noted before on this site, Brown doesn't do "simple".

As to whether encouraging people to scrap old cars and buy new ones (many of which may well be foreign imports) actually improves the economy or environment, is of course another issue!

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"