BIG GROUP

[beermat]

Hi all,

I am considering whether I should joining BG. Currently, I am getting independent advice from a firm of tax specialist on HMRC's investigations into my scheme participations. This is not cheap and already I have paid out several thousand pounds for them to get up to speed on my case and answer a number of HMRC letters.

Would joining BG and having both services running currently be a good idea?

TIA

[DotasScandal]

I guess you mean "concurrently".

It depends. BG is not there to provide advice on your individual circumstances per se. That's something that WTT consulting can do for you, same as your guys are doing at the moment.
So the scope of BG doesn't quite overlap. As the name indicates, it's a group effort. And yes, you should join, regardless of whether you intend to continue with that firm or not.

[dr203]

Question

Hi There
I am new to this forum and wanted to ask a couple of questions. I am considering joining BG group too and wanted to know whether people have had any success with them thus far? Has anybody been successful in their appeals etc? Lastly will BG approach be to go towards settlement?

Thank you and look forward to hearing from you guys

DR

[webberg]

Hi,

I am new here and I wanted some further information before committing to the BG cause.

I received by post on March 24th a notice of assessment dated March XXth, covering my employment at XXX for tax year 2011/12.

The sum is significant and completely unwarranted in my eyes.

According to the notice I have two options:

1 - Appeal within 30 days of the date of the notice of assessment.

2 - Pay in full no later than April XXth 2016.

Questions:
If I join BG am I effectively nominating WTT to represent me in this particular case? Do I need to put this in writing to HMRC? I am a LTD now and do not wish to use my existing accountant (who HMRC have sent a copy of the notice to already).

Do I get a personalized service as a BG member? I assume not because of the low membership fee. Is it a case of getting generic advice from BG experts and then constructing my own responses to HMRC? I'd like to be assured that time and care would be taken to formulate an effective strategy for my particular case. I'm assuming there are hundreds of people in my situation but how many have successfully had notices of assessments reversed? Am I expecting too much assistance for what is a ridiculously small fee?

Also, how does BG ensure paid-for advice is not leaked on public forums?

Finally, if circumstances change is it straight forward to leave the BG group?

Thanks in advance.

The above questions would be better addressed to me or WTT outside a public forum but as they've been asked here, I'll do my best to respond.

If you join BG do you automatically have WTT as a representative? NO

Do you need to put this in writing? NO

Does BG offer a personalised service? NO. BG exists to identify, analyse and present technical argument on schemes and elements within schemes.

Can you use BG information to formulate your own responses? YES.

How many people have had notices of assessment reversed? To the best of my knowledge where the assessment/demand has been validly issued, NONE.

Are you expecting too much for a small fee? ONLY YOU CAN ANSWER THAT.

Can BG ensure that information is not leaked? NO. We have to trust our members.

Is it straight forward to leave BG? YES. Just stop paying the monthly fee.

PM me for more.

[webberg]

Hi all,

I am considering whether I should joining BG. Currently, I am getting independent advice from a firm of tax specialist on HMRC's investigations into my scheme participations. This is not cheap and already I have paid out several thousand pounds for them to get up to speed on my case and answer a number of HMRC letters.

Would joining BG and having both services running currently be a good idea?

TIA

Big Group has an advantage in that it has details of many schemes and specialises in contractor schemes. WTT who supply services to BG are already up to speed with most schemes and certainly the principles behind them and has established contacts within HMRC.

This should not be taken to imply special treatment or terms are available, just that we can get to the nub of the issues a bit more quickly. As time is money in this world, this creates an advantage.

Would running both be a good idea? Only you can make that judgement.

[webberg]

Hi There
I am new to this forum and wanted to ask a couple of questions. I am considering joining BG group too and wanted to know whether people have had any success with them thus far? Has anybody been successful in their appeals etc? Lastly will BG approach be to go towards settlement?

Thank you and look forward to hearing from you guys

DR

I will declare a bias here and you should bear this in mind.

Define "success".

If you mean have tax reductions been achieved, then BG has not yet presented its analysis in any detail and is in the study/research stage. As such HMRC has not yet responded. We expect that to happen in the next 3 to 6 months.

If you mean that members are better informed, support each other and have succeeded in having some demands withdrawn due to administrative error, the very definitely yes.

Is BG geared towards settlement? YES.

[DJVP]

PM me for more.

Thanks. PM'd.

[jbryce]

It's worth it.

I will declare a bias here and you should bear this in mind.

Define "success".

If you mean have tax reductions been achieved, then BG has not yet presented its analysis in any detail and is in the study/research stage. As such HMRC has not yet responded. We expect that to happen in the next 3 to 6 months.

If you mean that members are better informed, support each other and have succeeded in having some demands withdrawn due to administrative error, the very definitely yes.

Is BG geared towards settlement? YES.

My sanity is in a much better state as a result of BG and my accountant considers it the best bet for a sensible settlement with HMRC.

[beermat]

Being watched

It has been said many times before that HMRC lurk within this forum. How do you guard against HMRC joining BG and being a party to what is discussed in the private forums?

[webberg]

It has been said many times before that HMRC lurk within this forum. How do you guard against HMRC joining BG and being a party to what is discussed in the private forums?

We have a sign up process that requires you produce some evidence that you are a genuine contractor, past or present.

We also run some random checks matching names to publicly available data (LinkedIn, etc).

It is possible that an HMRC officer could fake this.

Is it worth the risk for them?

An HMRC officer using taxpayer information to infiltrate a forum like Big Group, would need to be either acting under orders or insanely ambitious. If they are found out using such information, I suggest that this is a sackable event and perhaps loss of pension. Why would they risk that?

Given that the outcome of the forum will eventually be known to HMRC (and we have regular meetings with them to feedback what we get from the forum, minus the rants/bad language) why would they bother reading the detail?

HMRC is also (as you all know to your considerable cost) a reactive organisation. They are prone to making law/rules that they have not thought through and which produces some very bad effects, but generally if an argument is advanced against their view, they react to that rather than seek to proactively defeat/deflect/prevent the argument arising. So again, even if they had pre warning of ideas that develop into an argument, what good would it do them?

Arguably the greater risk arises from genuine members of the forum who consider that "leaking" information to the forum to HMRC will help their case. It won't but you can see the thought process.

So, I have no guarantee that our forum will not be completely confidential. I believe however that for the reasons above the risks to an individual HMRC officer or the organisation should such action be discovered to be systemic and "approved" are simply not worth the advance warning they may get.

Finally, in our discussions with HMRC, they admit to reading this forum (and others) which is their right. They have indicated that they do not make efforts to pierce confidential fora and for what it's worth, I believe them.