To settle, or not to settle....

[Sky Rocket]

It is quite simple - You can roll over and kowtow to HMRC or you can man up and fight. If you fight and you lose at least for the rest of your life you will not be wondering 'what if..' unlike those timid souls who never tried at all.

Well, I suppose I asked for views and I got them.

This really is not about 'kowtowing' to HMRC, neither is it about rolling over or being timid. My preference is to take a reasoned approach and pick my battles. As much as I'd like to tell them to poke it, I really won't be left with a warm & fuzzy feeling if I come out of this owing an extra £4k or whatever it turns out to be.

That said, I do have loan agreements which leaves me somewhat uneasy about settling - what's to say these won't come back and bite me in the backside later on....

Still mulling this over...

[Sky Rocket]

In theory, because the settlement offered is outside the self assessment process, admitting that loans are taxable income for pre 2011 years should not impact your ability to claim that post 2011 arrangements are not taxable.

In practice, I fear that a questions from HMRC such as "you used scheme ABC and agreed it was taxable, the scheme in 2012 was pretty much the same, why is it not taxable?" could be a tricky one.

Be careful on the settlement dates.

You should have agreed this before 30/9/15.

If you have not and if you have not got an agreed extension, then you may already be too late.

It's unfortunate that the wording in the pack gives the impression that you have 90 days from 30/9/15 to agree the settlement. This is INCORRECT. The 90 days is the period between settlement and payment.

If you have not already done so, check NOW.

Thanks for this. I actually wrote to them after the settlement offer was over although they had previously sent me my revised figures prior to 30th Sept. They apologised for being late and apparently didn't want to disadvantage me due to their backlog, so they've given me a couple of weeks to respond..

I've a couple of days left..

I too, suspect I will struggle to argue an appeal for later years if I settle this...

[StrengthInNumbers]

How ever number of APNs you can always fight if U WANT TO! Big group and other avenues exist

[UMTS786]

White Collar CLSO

Hi

Just today I came across this forum. I had a discovery assessment from HMRC 2010-11. Scheme was non-Dotas registered. Appealed against it and the amount was suspended.

I received a CLSO letter from HMRC. I just picked up the phone and contacted them and told them I was with white collar scheme for only 6 months. They asked for my bank statements and I sent them and they came back with an offer of £4716.40 l just took my accountant advise and signed the letter as the amount was less than half of discovery assessment. I received an an acceptance letter last week from HMRC asking me to pay within 90 days. Now when I read these forums, I understood I should have not taken CLSO and joined a group to fight it. Also my scheme was not DOTAS registered. Now I am thinking of not making a payment to HMRC.

Can this agreement of payment with HMRC be terminated by any means or they can now just force for collection based on the fact I signed the agreement ?

Thanks
Pracha

[DotasScandal]

Did you sign the acceptance letter?

If not, just go silent and leave them wondering...
If they ask, just let them know you changed your mind.

The uptake of the CLSO was so dismal that HMRC won't even release the data

[UMTS786]

White Collar CLSO

Did you sign the acceptance letter?

If not, just go silent and leave them wondering...
If they ask, just let them know you changed your mind.

The uptake of the CLSO was so dismal that HMRC won't even release the data

I signed the CLSO offer letter and received an acceptance letter last week which only tells me ways to make payment and confirms HMRC accepts the settlement amount on the basis set out in the offer.

I have the copy of offer letter. It is an agreement. But there is a clause where it says if I don't pay the amount by due date this agreement will be terminated and HMRC will charge interest after due date and will take nessary actions to collect amount due from me in respect of the Loan.

[DotasScandal]

I signed the CLSO offer letter and received an acceptance letter last week which only tells me ways to make payment and confirms HMRC accepts the settlement amount on the basis set out in the offer.

I have the copy of offer letter. It is an agreement. But there is a clause where it says if I don't pay the amount by due date this agreement will be terminated and HMRC will charge interest after due date and will take nessary actions to collect amount due from me in respect of the Loan.

One the one hand, you signed, so....

On the other, if there really is such a clause, you could let the agreement "be terminated".
If you call HMRC, prepare for them doing everything to persuade you to NOT back out of the agreement...

Quite frankly, the sum is quite trivial compared to what people here "owe" on average, and more than one would tell you to just write it off and be done with the whole thing. Of course that is not our advice.

[bluemonkey71]

Did you sign the acceptance letter?

If not, just go silent and leave them wondering...
If they ask, just let them know you changed your mind.

The uptake of the CLSO was so dismal that HMRC won't even release the data

Jumping the gun a bit there as you have no data to back that up with.

[Fred Bloggs]

Just pay it and be done. You got away lightly. Less than £5k.

[DotasScandal]

Jumping the gun a bit there as you have no data to back that up with.

Read HMRC's reply to the FOI request (read it between then lines, that is). It's pretty damning.