HMRC Enquiry letters on Loans from EBT and other schemes

[typod]

What are people generally using now instead?

[jbryce]

What are people generally using now instead?

All manner of nonsense - LPPs, etc. Some schemes fall, legally, outside of DOTAS so aren't caught up with the APN approach. However these schemes will surely fail GAAR.
GAAR is not retrospective, but if the GAAR rules against a scheme then you can bet your bottom dollar that HMRC will apply it to everything post GAAR go-live in 2013.

[fielder]

Evening all, while I may of gone quiet on the posting front I regulary check the forum, does the following reported in the Daily Mail have any repercussions on some of our issues?

I'm aware that the scheme being described is not EBT related, i'm not sure that matters though?

I have been sent a settlement figure and am still mulling over what to do, I don't have the upfront funds to cover it and I am reluctant to share any of my financial details with themto discuss if even possible any payment terms. I have nothing to hide but I have not broken any law and don't want to be bullied down the road.

Taxman let stars duck £10m bill because it was 'unacceptably' slow | Daily Mail Online

Revealed: How bungling taxman let celebrities duck £10million bill - because they were 'unacceptably slow' to investigate

• Millions will never be recouped from the Liberty tax avoidance scheme
  
• While taxman raids ordinary people’s bank accounts, bungling HMRC officials let celebrities use tax avoidance scheme
  
• Report revealed taxman will never get back up to £10 million owed by rich tax avoiders because it failed to act before the 12-month deadline passed
  
• Committee scathing about HMRC’s failures - said it ‘must do more faster’

Further down the article as well all though it is just 'some person' and many of us agree I think :-

Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance
‘The report is right to point the finger at HMRC but the real villains of the piece are the politicians who have created a tax code so complex that even the taxman can’t administer it.

‘Of course HMRC needs to up its game, but it’s hardly a surprise that mistakes creep in when you’re trying to enforce a tax system of almost comical complexity.’


Thank you.

[StrengthInNumbers]

To me if this has been decided by courts, it means where HMRC is out of time, they are out of time and cannot do zip. This is one of the ways they are scaring people into Settling. I wonder why HMRC does not want to go to courts over this? I think I have an idea ....

[centurian]

Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance
‘The report is right to point the finger at HMRC but the real villains of the piece are the politicians who have created a tax code so complex that even the taxman can’t administer it.

‘Of course HMRC needs to up its game, but it’s hardly a surprise that mistakes creep in when you’re trying to enforce a tax system of almost comical complexity.’


Thank you.

Careful what you wish for - a truly "simple" tax system that the TPA campaign for means these schemes cannot exist at all - as there are zero reliefs for scheme promoters to latch onto and exploit - everyone has to go PAYE and pay the full whack.

In reality, that's never going to happen - too many vested interests in the various reliefs - but a "simple" tax system does not mean a low tax system.

[StrengthInNumbers]

I don't mind high or low as long as I clearly know I am legal or not. Even with limited company cloud always over your head unless u pay more than what account says and force yourself into IR35 even if u are clearly out of it.

[Not Losing Any Sleep]

House of Commons - HMRC's progress in improving tax compliance and preventing tax avoidance - Public Accounts Committee

Worth having a read of HC 458 - From House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts. - read all, not just the para quoted.

HMRC's progress in improving tax compliance and preventing tax avoidance.

18. We queried whether HMRC's litigation strategy for avoidance cases is too cautious. We have heard in the past from the major accountancy firms that they would continue to promote avoidance schemes even when there was a 50% chance of these being successfully challenged.[34] HMRC told us that last year it defeated 30 avoidance schemes and protected £2.7 billion through litigation. It said it is proud of its 80% success rate in avoidance cases, arguing that its high level of success is an important deterrent.[35] HMRC emphasised the importance of measures outside of litigation. For example, it has not taken Employee Benefit Trusts to court, and sees reaching a settlement as the most effective way of resolving them. Unlike marketed avoidance schemes which often have a large number of followers, Employee Benefit Trusts tend to be bespoke, making individual case-by-case litigation costly.[36]

[jrock]

Sign this

Withdraw the proposals to introduce direct recovery of tax debts from taxpayers

[EBTContractor]

2012/13 Enquiry for me

^^ and signed

[webberg]

not sure the title reflects the content

Tax avoiders don’t have human rights – Philippa Whipple QC | UK Human Rights Blog