BN66 - Time to fight back (Chapter 3)

[BrilloPad]

Thanks for de-lurking

Do you ever want to come back to UK?

Its obviously harder for HMRC to get to people outside the EU. I heard they have an office in Sydney for chasing expats : but not sure if that is true.

I should warn anyone on here who posts here about moving abroad that HMRC can issue jeopardy notices : I believe this freezes your assets. AFAIK the only one on here whom HMRC know the identity of is me. Not sure if admin could be ordered to reveal email addresses/ip addresses or if they would do so if requested (I suspect they would).

Anyone thinking of it should be careful what they say about it....

Apparently HMRC have reciprocal agreements with a lot of other countries, they usually form part of the Double Tax Treaties

Its quite interesting how many countries will uphold this sort of thing. I recently advised in a child access case where mother was going to Zimbabwe. I was suprised to learn that they uphold the Hague Convention!

[elpinar]

off topic - but important facts that might affect some of you

I have this morning recieved the following and thought I should put it out there as it will proably effect some of you :-

Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photo card driving licences expire.

Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.

They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photo card licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.

The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as the they start to expire.

Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.

A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photo cards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b'

They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed.

To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.

Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.

With another 300,000 photo card licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.

At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version.


Just below the driver name on the front of the photo card licence is a series of dates and details - each one numbered.

Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means.

The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.

Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until his or her 70th birthday.

A total of 25million new-style licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.

Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.

AA president, Edmund King said: 'It is not generally known that photo card licences expire: there appears to be a lack of information that people will have to renew these licences.

'People think they have already paid them for once over and that is it.

'It will come as a surprise to motorists and a shock that they have to pay an extra £17.50.'

The AA called on the Government to use the annual £450million from traffic enforcement fines to offset the renewal charge.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

The Poll above

is probably a bit pointless. Most people can't vote, and it doesn't include the many lurkers who have emailed me.

I have sent out approx 130 letters over the past week, and many people are forwarding it on to others.

If you still haven't done it, please think about it. We need sheer weight of numbers for this to have any effect.

[MuddyFunster]

I am in the unique position of living in Switzerland now. I wonder what recourse they have to me over here. Like many on here financial ruin would be the result if I have to pay the full amount issued in the CN.

This is an interesting page - http://www.movingabroadtoavoiddebt.co.uk/page11.html

I have read elsewhere that Commonwealth countries (including Australia of course) will chase you to recover the debt on behalf of the UK due to tax collection agreements. I can't remember the name of the term used. Of course Switzerland not being in the EU I don't know what the status is there.

Of course I'm not advocating doing a runner, whoever is reading this!

[HMRCAreCrooks]

Interesting Reading

http://www.publications.parliament.u...sy/430/430.pdf

Page 68 (70 in Adobe) starts the discussion of Double Taxation Treaties.

Apologies if this has already been posted.

[KiwiGuy]

got to love clarkson

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...#StartComments

read all the comments, i hope brown is reading so he gets the hint

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Any more letter requests?

Hmm, what can I say to persuade more people to join in.

Suppose Montp wrote to you and suggested you write to your MP. Would you do it then?

Obviously they can't do this because it could be perceived as lobbying, and if HMRC/Govt ever got wind of it there would be hell to pay.

However, that does not mean they don't approve of what we are doing.

Can you read between the lines above?

Don't believe me? Then give them a ring and ask them if it's OK.

[KiwiGuy]

Hmm, what can I say to persuade more people to join in.

Suppose Montp wrote to you and suggested you write to your MP. Would you do it then?

Obviously they can't do this because it could be perceived as lobbying, and if HMRC/Govt ever got wind of it there would be hell to pay.

However, that does not mean they don't approve of what we are doing.

Can you read between the lines above?

Don't believe me? Then give them a ring and ask them if it's OK.

Dont panic mate, people are slowly doing it....our voices will be heard

[Ratican]

http://www.publications.parliament.u...sy/430/430.pdf

Page 68 (70 in Adobe) starts the discussion of Double Taxation Treaties.

Apologies if this has already been posted.

Also do a search for "retrospective" and "BN66" in the document to get a good idea of the converstions that took place and the evidence given before the budget was finalised. Interesting reading for those who haven't already been here.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

A big thankyou

I've had a few emails from people who were not in the scheme offering to send letters to help our cause.

I never expected this but I'm sure I can speak for everyone in saying we are really grateful for their support.