Churchill Knight & Boox clients being investigated as Managed Service Companies

[Fred Bloggs]

Thanks. That gives me some reassurance.

Good luck to you, it's easy to get sucked into a situation here. But look at your position in the cold light of day and ask yourself if you think I am right. I think I am. Look at what THEPUMA has said, he's a reputable poster. You might wish to talk to a (reputable) contractor tax specialist, if you can find one that still gives a free of charge, free of obligation first phone call. All the best.

[malvolio]

Hat tip to Stewie from the IPSE forum.

I get this terrible feeling of déja vu...

[Sonic3389]

I asked CK if they knew any of the details about the PoA, as Hectors letter says very little about this other than the fact we can do it. There's no mention of the interest rates, when they start to apply and over what period they are applied (monthly/annually etc) in Hectors letters.

They said they're asking Hector this at the moment at will post an update once they had the info, they also stated if Hectors case is dropped then we'd be owed interest back on all our £ that they would have held from the PoA. I've asked what these rates would be as well.

[eek]

I asked CK if they knew any of the details about the PoA, as Hectors letter says very little about this other than the fact we can do it. There's no mention of the interest rates, when they start to apply and over what period they are applied (monthly/annually etc) in Hectors letters.

They said they're asking Hector this at the moment at will post an update once they had the info, they also stated if Hectors case is dropped then we'd be owed interest back on all our £ that they would have held from the PoA. I've asked what these rates would be as well.

It can all be found at HMRC interest rates for late and early payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[Sonic3389]

It can all be found at HMRC interest rates for late and early payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Thanks, I'm still not exactly sure that I'm looking at though - it says 3.25% but what's the history about? is that just showing how the % goes up and down over time? It seems to change almost month by month so am I to assume this interest is accrued monthly? 3.25% every month is a hell of a lot.

[enda1]

I presume the PoA should be the whole lot referenced in the letter from HMRC? Or is there a smaller amount that can stop interest ticking over?

[GregRickshaw]

Hat tip to Stewie from the IPSE forum.

The one thing I take from it though its hard to argue there is involvement there, they Boox are actually letting you manage everything. It looks dreadfully like they are doing it all but the end user is in 'control'. So maybe it's not so bad.

CK never had anything like that, a portal yes but nowhere near as fancy pants and as 'informing' as that!

[eek]

I presume the PoA should be the whole lot referenced in the letter from HMRC? Or is there a smaller amount that can stop interest ticking over?

Every penny paid in stops interest on that penny....

[cojak]

In the dim and distant past I do remember hunting for a replacement to Crunch (we are talking about the time Crunch were working out how to compete with FreeAgent as they pivoted from accountancy to being a software firm back and then back to being an accountancy firm) and I do remembering looking at Boox and thinking not for me. But at the time nothing (even that video) said they were an MSC because prior to 2015 everyone thought MSC providers controlled the money and not controlling the money was enough to be safe.

It's worth saying my linkedIn feed is now full of accountancy firms saying we told you so and others trying to scare agencies but what they fail to understand is that this was very much a case of there but for the grace of God goes a lot of contractors.

I completely agree with this, we can’t even see clearly the reasons for HMRC gunning for boox and CK.

[Maslins]

In the dim and distant past I do remember hunting for a replacement to Crunch (we are talking about the time Crunch were working out how to compete with FreeAgent as they pivoted from accountancy to being a software firm back and then back to being an accountancy firm) and I do remembering looking at Boox and thinking not for me. But at the time nothing (even that video) said they were an MSC because prior to 2015 everyone thought MSC providers controlled the money and not controlling the money was enough to be safe.

It's worth saying my linkedIn feed is now full of accountancy firms saying we told you so and others trying to scare agencies but what they fail to understand is that this was very much a case of there but for the grace of God goes a lot of contractors.

Indeed. I'm sure I'm not the only person heavily involved in what might be deemed a "contractor accounting firm" who has raised an eyebrow to these challenges (in far more an "I'm slightly scared" than "Ha, look at them" kind of way!).

Reality is myself and peers in similar firms all forgot about MSC regs years ago. We've never invoiced on behalf of clients, or had any control over their banking. We don't "control" them at all.

However, do we influence our clients financial decisions? Of course we do! If we didn't, we'd be rubbish accountants! Do we recommend what salary/dividend levels clients opt for? Again yes...but so did the top 10 firm I trained with >15 years ago! That's not running someone's business, that's being an adviser.

I very much hope (and also do expect) this ends up being considered massive over-reach by HMRC, and they get slapped down accordingly.