Thursday 29 April 2010

HMRC Wins Central Government Procurement Award

Bender
I kid you not!

Could someone though please explain what this means?

"In terms of spend analysis, HMRC has consolidated, cleansed and enriched spend data for more than 21,000 suppliers and 1.3 million invoice transactions."

Central Government Procurement Award
sponsored by DHRinterim March 2010

Awarded to the central government agency that is judged to have increased value to the taxpayer through smarter procurement practice. Entry is open to central government agencies.

Winner: HM Revenue and Customs

Spend, Sourcing & Procurement technologies
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was formed in April 2005, following the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise Departments. In 2009, HMRC collected net tax receipts in excess of £400 billion, and has more than 83,000 employees at 300 locations around the UK.

HMRC is responsible for £2.2 billion in annual spending, and purchases everything from standard office supplies and print services, to industrial truck scanners and ships, and even dogs for customs work. Plans to make HMRC more efficient and open in its sourcing practices, as well as move to a more focused procurement activity, led to the implementation of an Emptoris technology suite for sourcing, spend analysis, contract management and supplier performance management.

Spend analysis and sourcing technologies are in wide use in the private sector at leading global companies. Getting a public sector organisation like HMRC in line with these practices is a huge task.

In January 2007, HMRC initiated a pilot project using spend analysis software to collate and enrich its spend data. In February 2008, HMRC then initiated a second pilot program, using advanced sourcing software, which aimed to enable the department with more efficient, effective and open sourcing practices for the goods and services it procures.

Having clear and deep visibility into organisation-wide spend allows it to effectively target key areas for cost savings and clearly demonstrate the value delivered. The information capability of spend analysis software is also critical to helping the organisation report more effectively to government auditors. Finally, the contract management technology initiative addresses the recommendations of a government audit, and improves the efficiency of the Department’s contracting processes, as well as the terms of, and compliance to, HMRC contracts.

In terms of spend analysis, HMRC has consolidated, cleansed and enriched spend data for more than 21,000 suppliers and 1.3 million invoice transactions. In terms of the application of sourcing technology, HMRC has run more than 45 sourcing events for a total spending of £300 million. Sourcing technologies have already helped HMRC to achieve savings of as high as 30 per cent in key spend categories and e-auction events.

These technologies have allowed HMRC to streamline and take paper out of the process, which has efficiency as well as sustainability benefits. Perhaps even more importantly, it has improved visibility and control over public spending – and improved accountability and responsiveness to taxpayers and Central Government.

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"

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Hanging On The Telephone - Very Very Busy

Call Centre
In parallel with this site highlighting people's difficulties in trying to get through to HMRC on the phone, HMRC have admitted to the Guardian that its call centres and helplines are failing to cope with demand from the public.

Callers are frequently cut off, or left hanging in lengthy queues.

Guardian Money recently published a letter from lecturer Dr Hillary Shaw, detailing his problems trying to get through to HMRC on its 0845 070 3703 number.

"After navigating several levels of automated number choices you get the message that this line is busy, please call back later. No option of hanging on, you must expensively re-navigate with no certainty of success, repeatedly."

The letter prompted an outpouring from other Guardian readers suffering similar frustrations.

An HMRC spokesman said:

"We are experiencing a higher level of demand than usual because of the well-publicised issues around PAYE notices of coding. This means customers are finding it more difficult to get through.

It is standard practise within our contact centres to play 'busy' messages when the helpline is full. This ensures customers on hold do not wait in a queue for an unreasonable length of time. As a rule, we cap queue lengths at eight minutes
."

HMRC is like the M25, it has become so popular that it cannot cope with demand.

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"

Monday 26 April 2010

Coding Problems Continue



HMRC's coding problems continue to cause problems for taxpayers.

Accountancy Age quotes Peter Mitchell, chairman of the Society of Professional Accountants, saying that "as many as one in five" tax coding notices this year may be wrong. He went on to say that some firms are only this month receiving tax coding notices, dated from February 2010.

Jonathan Russell, past president of the UK200Group and partner at ReesRussell, said:

"A significant number, if not a majority, of our clients have been affected.

We don't know how long they will take to resolve as [HMRC] are only accepting letters, having told us they cannot change anything as a result of a phone call and it must be put in writing
."

How long does it take HMRC take to react to letters?

This will run and run!

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"

Friday 23 April 2010

Krakatoa East of Gatwick



EMW Picton Howell have warned that those who have managed to return from abroad, after the recent volcanic disturbance, may face a tax bill if their repatriation costs were covered by their employer.

Picton Howell have warned that HMRC will demand tax and NI payments on any expenses claimed by employees during the last six days, including transport costs to get them back to work.

The rational being that unless the employer has expressly agreed to cover the repatriation costs, there is a tax liability.

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"

Thursday 22 April 2010

Complex

Complex
Accountants and politicians are calling on HM Revenue & Customs to publicise exemptions from inheritance tax (IHT) properly after a Telegraph reader's four-year struggle to be repaid nearly £53,000.

The tax was wrongly deducted because he was unaware of an important exemption, potentially affecting thousands of families, until he read about it in the Telegraph – but HMRC says the tax rules are clearly set out in its literature and everybody should know about them.

However, independent experts say many professional advisers to bereaved families of servicemen and women are unaware of the IHT exemption because they come across it so rarely.

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"

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Power Corrupts - Fit and Proper Test

It seems that our "respected" MPs have foisted another piece of bureaucratic tax legislation upon us that will do nothing to lessen fraud, but will do everything to increase the bureaucratic burden on legitimate charities and their trustees.

Third Sector reports that a new measure introduced in the Finance Act earlier this month, designed to ensure that tax relief is not given to bogus charities, is too loosely worded and gives HMRC too much power.

The legislation gives HMRC the power to carry out a 'fit and proper persons' test, every time a charity hires a new trustee or senior manager. If a trustee fails to pass the test, the charity can be denied tax relief.

Sam Macdonald, partner at law firm Farrer & Co, is quoted:

"Charities will never really know whether they are entitled to tax relief or not.

HMRC has said 'you'll have to trust us', but that's not a reassuring basis on which to continue
."

Bill Lewis, tax consultant at Bates Wells & Braithwaite, said:

"HMRC should have consulted on the legislation before introducing it.

This is more unnecessary paperwork, and penalises only the innocent. The red tape this produces will have no effect on fraudsters, but it will cause trouble for law-abiding trustees
."

Simon Weil, partner at Bircham Dyson Bell, said:

"This is dangerously subjective legislation. I think the sector needs to fight for its independence."

Poorly drafted legislation giving more powers to an unelected bureaucracy is a dangerous combination.

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"

Monday 19 April 2010

Hanging On The Telephone - Busy

Call Centre
My sympathies to a loyal reader who emailed me the other day about some problems that he has been having with HMRC.

Aside from issues with HMRC losing corporation tax returns several times, he then had a few problems trying to complete a tax return online

Deciding to talk to a human being he called the "helpline", at 19:30, only to hear a 3 minute message telling him that HMRC were busy and that he should do it online.

At which point he was cut off.

Why is service declining?

It's not that hard a question to answer:

1 The tax system has become so massively complex that neither the taxpayer, nor HMRC staff, are able to easily understand it (if at all). Hence it takes an inordinate amount of time to deal with problems/queries.

2 The poorly managed restructuring of HMRC has caused disruption, chaos and a plunge in morale.

3 The limited resources available are not best placed to field queries and deal with taxpayers.

4 There are insufficient frontline resources to deal with taxpayers' issues.

5 There is not enough money available to fund the resources needed to deal with the overly complex taxsystem.

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"

Friday 16 April 2010

Bullying and Not Fit For Purpose - Update

The investigations specialist representing a self-employed Kent tradesman who was penalised for overclaiming a £2,000 rebate under HMRC's new penalty regime has explained the background details to AccountingWEB.co.uk.

"McGrigors also took up the matter with a senior official in HMRC's penalty project team who was 'very understanding' and said he would take the case up as a complaint. 'If the client is not satisfied with the result, the appeal process is still open to us,' Berwick added."

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"

Thursday 15 April 2010

Bullying and Not Fit For Purpose


The Times reports that a taxpayer tried to reclaim £3K in overpaid tax for the year to April 2010.

However, HMRC calculated that he was in fact owed £1K.

Fair enough!

However, under the new penalty regulations HMRC can fine people up to 30% of tax owed for careless mistakes and up to 100% for deliberate errors.

Now being a simple sort of person I would suggest that these rules, unless there has been a deliberate attempt to defraud HMRC, are meant to be applied with some form of commonsense (most especially if it is a tax reclaim rather than annual self assessment).

HMRC took the "middle route", and fined the taxpayer 70% of the £2K difference between the sum that he felt he was owed and the sum that HMRC calculated it would repay him; ie there is an implication that he was deliberately trying to defraud HMRC.

The taxpayer was fined £2K, even though he was owed £1K.

Phil Berwick, director of tax investigations at McGrigors, the law firm that became involved in the case after HMRC issued the fine, told The Times:

"Calculating a rebate can be complicated and the taxpayer in question was unrepresented by an adviser, yet HMRC has refused to take any of this into consideration.

We believe he made an honest mistake, so for HMRC to be fining him is outrageous. HMRC has charged this taxpayer with a higher penalty than someone committing a serious fraud under the old penalty regime
."

It is clear that the heavy handed treatment of this taxpayer by HMRC (have they proven that he was attempting to deliberately defraud them?) will put people off from claiming rebates, lest they be fined more than the rebate they get for any accidental error.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, put it more directly:

"HMRC seems to have given up entirely on serving the public and taken to bullying them instead. We have a hugely complex tax system, and no one should be fined for being unable to understand its every technicality.

A lot of people are already angry at being overtaxed and, if HMRC tries to deter them from claiming rebates in this way, tempers are going to rise further. The tax system and the tax authorities have ceased to be fit for purpose
."

The state is using HMRC to subjugate the population, as it becomes ever more desperate in its search for funds.

Sadly I do not see any change of direction likely, whoever wins the coming election. Lazy MPs voted through the legalisation, that HMRC are now so eagerly using against the taxpayer, without any real scrutiny or care as to the consequences. Many of these same lazy MPs will be returned to parliament after the election.

Who will ask the akward questions?

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"

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Hanging On The Telephone

HMRC Call Centre
A loyal reader wrote to me yesterday:

"I have so far spent about £7 on the 0845 number at the top of my coding notice for 2010 - 2011 in an attempt to have it amended. So far they have only done half the job, and they are unobtainable this morning (as they were on Friday and Saturday). I am extremely frustrated!

Have you any tips as to how I might just get a live human being at the other end of the phone rather than recorded messages (for which I am paying!) and unobtainable signals
?"

Can anyone help him?

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"

Tuesday 13 April 2010

HMRC Staff Survey Published 2010

Morale
As promised here is HMRC's staff survey (published February 2010), which has yet to appear on their website.

- HMRC Full Final
- HMRC People Survey 2010

The People Survey measures employee engagement. Engaged employees feel they belong to an organisation that motivates them to do their very best. They care about its future and will put in more effort to help it meet its goals and objectives.

Across the Civil Service, the Cabinet Office measures employee engagement in three ways:
•SAY – whether someone speaks positively about their department
•STAY – whether they want to stay with their department
•STRIVE – whether they feel encouraged to support their department to deliver and
succeedt (sic page 2 has this spelling mistake)


The results are not stunning, eg:

- 18% are proud to work for HMRC
- 14% would recommend working for HMRC
- 13% feel HMRC motivates them to achieve it's (sic an error of grammar this time) objectives
- 61% didn't have confidence in the decision made by HMRC's senior managers
- 67% didn't feel that change was well managed
- 60% didn't see career development opportunities in HMRC
- 63% don't believe that HMRC managers will take action as a result of the survey
- 24% want to leave HMRC within 1 year

Page 12 shows HMRC consistently very low/at the bottom of the pile when compared to other public sector departments eg:

- bottom when asked if work gives a personal sense of accomplishment
- bottom when asked if they are proud to tell others they work for HMRC
- bottom when asked if they would recommend HMRC as a great place to work
- 95 out of 96 (almost bottom) when comparing leadership and change management

All in all a pretty dismal performance.

However, be not alarmed, Lesley Strathie (CEO) is upbeat; as per the HMRC intranet:

"Today we are publishing the results of our latest People Survey. I would like to start by thanking everyone who took part. More than 53,000 people responded, more than last year's pilot survey, and I am grateful so many of you took the time to share your views and opinions.

I am pleased to see a big rise in the number of people who find their work both interesting (73 per cent) and challenging (59 per cent). The report also shows that we have begun to make progress in ensuring our people feel involved in the important decisions that affect their work. People across our Department clearly value their colleagues and know they will support them.

The results for line managers, who are easily the biggest influence on how someone feels about their job, have continued to increase. The number of people who receive regular feedback on their performance has risen significantly (57 per cent up from 47 per cent), while 60 per cent have confidence in their manager’s decisions and 70 per cent say their manager recognises when they have done their job well. These results are a tribute to the hard work and dedication of many of our managers.

It is also reassuring that the overwhelming majority of people are clear what is expected of them in their jobs, although the results are slightly down on equivalent questions in the last survey.

Although the results in these areas are encouraging, we clearly have a considerable way to go. The survey raises a number of significant issues around the way leadership is viewed within the Department, which we will focus on in the coming months. There is also dissatisfaction with the way change is managed.

Career development is another big issue, with fewer people believing there are opportunities for them within the Department. Although 75 per cent say they have the right skills to do their jobs, only 20 per cent think the learning and development they have done at work has helped them develop their careers.

These issues are very much on our agenda and have been highlighted by the Capability Re-Review team. There are no simple or straightforward solutions to many of these issues and your support will be invaluable in helping us address them.

There is clearly a lot of information here for our senior team to examine and discuss. ExCom will be meeting later this month to discuss what you have told us and agree action. We will let you know what that means for you and your area as soon as possible (sic no fullstop)

We will be holding a staff dial-in on 17 February. ExCom and I will be very pleased to answer any questions you have and listen to your views on the actions we all need to take.

I am grateful to everyone in our People Function for the tremendous work they have done since the pilot survey and to our Engagement Champions across the Department for their support.

Finally, thank you for your participation.

Lesley Strathie
Chief executive and permanent secretary

February 2 2010
"

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"

Monday 12 April 2010

HMRC Staff Survey 2010

Morale
By happenstance I now have a copy of the 2010 HMRC staff survey, published February 2010.

Rather strangely the survey is not yet up on the HMRC site.

I don't know why?

I will have a look through it, and publish it tomorrow on this site.

Worthy of note in the survey is that in none of the categories do HMRC's results even match the average for the whole Civil Service.

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"

Friday 9 April 2010

Tear Up The Rule Book!

The Telegraph reports that the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), in its formal submission to HMRC, is calling for the Government to "tear up" proposed legislation aimed penalising "deliberate wrongdoing" by tax agents and start again.

The submission is in response to an HMRC consultation paper. CIOT are concerned that the legislation in its present form would lead to "absurd outcomes", with innocent advisers and even HMRC staff being held guilty and facing a £5K fine.

I wonder if whoever wins the next election, given how broke the country is, will listen?

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"

Thursday 8 April 2010

Hypocrisy, HMRC and Mapeley


In December 2009 I wrote about HMRC's contract with Mapeley (an offshore property company):

"The National Audit Office (NAO) have issued a report that gives HMRC a well deserved kicking for this contract.

HMRC had promised £1.2BN of savings in maintenance and other costs, as a result of signing with Mapeley. In reality the savings will be around £900M, possibly falling to £650M.

The NAO go on to state that there is now a "significant risk" that the contract will not deliver value for money over the rest of its life.

It seems that, according to the NAO, HMRC had no long-term plan regarding the sale and didn't even know that Mapeley was offshore!

The NAO is of the view that HMRC had not recognised the contract as a major strategic asset, and had not allocated the requisite commercial skills to managing it
."

The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has now also made a few comments about the contract. It notes that HMRC lacked the "commercial skills or business acumen" to manage such a large contract effectively, while its reputation had been damaged by its involvement with an offshore firm (seemingly HMRC didn't even realise at the time that Mapeley was offshore).

HMRC signed a 20 year contract with Mapeley STEPS in 2001 to take over the ownership and management of 60% of its estate, it expected to pay £3.3BN at today's prices.

However, it has already overpaid £312M and the final cost is expected to hit £3.87BN.

PAC states that HMRC should have realised it would have to take a more proactive approach. Most especially as Mapeley was a new company, which had put in a low bid.

In fact Mapeley has already had to seek financial assistance from HMRC to deal with "serious cash flow problems", as a result of the economic downturn and falling property values.

How ironic that HMRC, a staunch and shouty opponent of tax avoidance has in fact signed a contract that involves tax avoidance through an offshore company.

Clearly a case of do as we say, rather than do as we do!

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"

Wednesday 7 April 2010

HMRC Inhabits Time/Space Paradox



Oh dear it would appear that HMRC are inhabiting some form of time/space vortex that enables them to state and believe two contradictory "facts" at the same time.

HMRC recently sent my dear old mum two letters:

- One (a tax assessment) stating that she had overpaid her tax

- The other (a coding notice) stating that she had underpaid her tax

Normally, in the real world, such a paradox could not exist. However, in HMRC's world such a paradox is the norm.

Suffice to say, one letter is correct the other is incorrect.

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"

Tuesday 6 April 2010

HMRC Giving Money Away

WTF
This was in last Sunday's Observer:

"Since September 2008, we have been trying to stop HM Revenue & Customs giving us tax credits which we have not asked for and do not want. We have phoned or written seven times to say we are not claiming tax credits. But payments continue. JF, Wakefield, W. Yorkshire

There is no explanation as to why HMRC continued forcing money on you but it has now apologised and assured you that payments, and correspondence, will stop from the end of the tax year tomorrow.

HMRC also says it will not ask you to repay any money
."

Anyone else having money "forced upon them" by HMRC?

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"

Thursday 1 April 2010

Hanging On The Telephone - ICAEW Query ADL's

ADL's
The ICAEW is querying the efficiency of Agent Dedicated Lines (ADL's), and is asking for feedback from users:

"Are the agent telephone lines still working well?

The Tax Faculty is hearing from agents that HMRC's Agent Dedicated Lines (ADLs) are not working as effectively as they did when first introduced.

We understand from some agents that if the contact centre staff cannot help immediately, HMRC is replying by letter rather than calling back. This is causing problems for some agents as the reply is taking up to three weeks. Also, as the agent has not had a chance to speak to someone and explain the problem fully, their question is sometimes not answered satisfactorily.

We are interested to know your experience on:

-How easy it is to get through to ADLs on the telephone
-How often HMRC contact centre staff are able to answer your query immediately
-If they can't do this, what is the call back time?
-If you don't get a call back, are you instead receiving a written response?
-How long is it taking overall to receive a satisfactory answer to your question?
-If the system is not working as well as expected, we want to alert HMRC at an early stage
."

Comments and experiences are welcome.

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"