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Churchill Knight & Boox clients being investigated as Managed Service Companies

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    Originally posted by antuk View Post
    so its recently been brought to my attention that Boox knew they were being investigated as far back as 2018, despite not agreeing with HMRCs conclusion, should they not have taken steps to mitigate the impact and change their working practices?
    There wasn’t much incentive. The liability falls on the MSC in the first instance and they probably felt reasonably confident, at that stage, that HMRC were wrong. Changing their business model probably would’ve lost them business and/or increased their costs. Likewise, informing their clients, although they really should’ve done that and both CK and Boox should now see a mass exodus if their clients have any sense.

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      Originally posted by antuk View Post
      so its recently been brought to my attention that Boox knew they were being investigated as far back as 2018, despite not agreeing with HMRCs conclusion, should they not have taken steps to mitigate the impact and change their working practices?
      I firmly believe they should have let us know yes. I also suspect CK knew telling us would have seen a mass exodus.

      For anyone who believes CK or Boox have our best interests at heart ,or are going to fund our appeals (they are not btw), they should remember your post and remember 2018 is when they could have told us. There is going to be some very bitter in-fighting soon, I suspect also now more people know the year it started, there will be an every man for himself struggle which may include whistle blowing. We'll see.

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        Originally posted by antuk View Post
        so its recently been brought to my attention that Boox knew they were being investigated as far back as 2018, despite not agreeing with HMRCs conclusion, should they not have taken steps to mitigate the impact and change their working practices?
        I was aware of the investigation since 2019. Found out myself when HMRC objected to my Ltd Co be closed down. Had to contact Boox to find out wtf was going on and their attitude was very much 'don't worry, the investigation is taking longer than we expected. Once it's complete, HMRC will be satisfied that we're not an MSCP and you're Ltd Co will be struck off - just might take some time'. When I asked for another update they actually told me the strike-offs were filtering through now so I didn't think there was anything to worry about. How wrong was I.

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          Originally posted by rdw1970 View Post

          I was aware of the investigation since 2019. Found out myself when HMRC objected to my Ltd Co be closed down. Had to contact Boox to find out wtf was going on and their attitude was very much 'don't worry, the investigation is taking longer than we expected. Once it's complete, HMRC will be satisfied that we're not an MSCP and you're Ltd Co will be struck off - just might take some time'. When I asked for another update they actually told me the strike-offs were filtering through now so I didn't think there was anything to worry about. How wrong was I.
          W***ers both of them....

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            Originally posted by rdw1970 View Post

            I was aware of the investigation since 2019. Found out myself when HMRC objected to my Ltd Co be closed down. Had to contact Boox to find out wtf was going on and their attitude was very much 'don't worry, the investigation is taking longer than we expected. Once it's complete, HMRC will be satisfied that we're not an MSCP and you're Ltd Co will be struck off - just might take some time'. When I asked for another update they actually told me the strike-offs were filtering through now so I didn't think there was anything to worry about. How wrong was I.
            I basically had an identical experience. Same time frame when closing company, same reply from Boox. It’s as if they had it scripted ?

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              I knew of the MSC investigation back in Jan 2019 as I received a letter from HRMC which Boox forwarded to me. I had to supply data to HMRC for their investigation which included email exchanges, letters and transcribed phone conversations with Boox (I didn't even know these were kept). I uploaded these to HMRC's Dropbox and heard nothing back for more than 6 months. Then I got an email from HMRC saying that they had forgotten to download the data, the link had expired and could I upload everything again! I replied to say I would have to source all the data again and this would take some time and then heard nothing back. I then got another letter from HMRC about 2 years later from a different investigation officer saying that he had taken over the investigation and I would receive further communication. It then went quiet again until March of this year.

              It seems like a complete shambles on HMRC's side. I'm not surprised Boox didn't inform all of their clients about the situation and I assume that only a small sample of their clients were targeted initially by HMRC to prepare their case.

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                I have drafted my appeal. Thoughts on trying to get my MP involved?

                I can see from historical questions raised he would be on side.

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                  Originally posted by nekro View Post
                  I knew of the MSC investigation back in Jan 2019 as I received a letter from HRMC which Boox forwarded to me. I had to supply data to HMRC for their investigation which included email exchanges, letters and transcribed phone conversations with Boox (I didn't even know these were kept). I uploaded these to HMRC's Dropbox and heard nothing back for more than 6 months. Then I got an email from HMRC saying that they had forgotten to download the data, the link had expired and could I upload everything again! I replied to say I would have to source all the data again and this would take some time and then heard nothing back. I then got another letter from HMRC about 2 years later from a different investigation officer saying that he had taken over the investigation and I would receive further communication. It then went quiet again until March of this year.

                  It seems like a complete shambles on HMRC's side. I'm not surprised Boox didn't inform all of their clients about the situation and I assume that only a small sample of their clients were targeted initially by HMRC to prepare their case.
                  Interesting. I contacted HMRC to find out why they were objecting and was given a contact called Mark in their Sheffield office. He just told me Boox was fully on board with the investigation and to contact him in 3 months for an update. I did this throughout all of 2019\2020 until he told me his team was being made redundant in Dec 2020 and no further progress in the investigation was made. I really hoped it would be closed down! I chased HMRC again back end of 2021 and found out in Jan this year the investigation was with their technical team and no further progress or updates. Then the letter arrived in March... It does sound like a complete shambles to me. Spotted some typos in the letter too so it all looks rushed.

                  Comment




                    Originally posted by nekro View Post
                    I knew of the MSC investigation back in Jan 2019 as I received a letter from HRMC which Boox forwarded to me. I had to supply data to HMRC for their investigation which included email exchanges, letters and transcribed phone conversations with Boox (I didn't even know these were kept). I uploaded these to HMRC's Dropbox and heard nothing back for more than 6 months. Then I got an email from HMRC saying that they had forgotten to download the data, the link had expired and could I upload everything again! I replied to say I would have to source all the data again and this would take some time and then heard nothing back. I then got another letter from HMRC about 2 years later from a different investigation officer saying that he had taken over the investigation and I would receive further communication. It then went quiet again until March of this year.

                    It seems like a complete shambles on HMRC's side. I'm not surprised Boox didn't inform all of their clients about the situation and I assume that only a small sample of their clients were targeted initially by HMRC to prepare their case.

                    Agree with the shambles part...

                    However the rest sounds a little bit dodgy to say the least? HMRC agreed to a Dropbox link... it's a struggle to get them to accept email correspondence?

                    This is one of those moment in life where someone says 'after the even' oh I could have told you that!

                    My hate for CK grows by the day.

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                      Originally posted by Guy Incognito View Post
                      I have drafted my appeal. Thoughts on trying to get my MP involved?

                      I can see from historical questions raised he would be on side.

                      As David Kirk says getting MPs on side is a must. Also getting the accountancy bodies to react to this via parliament is a good idea.

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