HMRC enquiries for Talent Resource Management (TRM) / Cherrylon / Trentburg Schemes

[jbryce]

Hi all, I too have received a letter from TaxTalk which is disappointing. Their advice is to accept the "quite favourable" terms from HMRC. I am not ready to give in to HMRC and would like to know what other people are planning or who they are using for representation as I no longer want to use TaxTalk as they seem to be linked to TRM/Cherrylon through Futurelink. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated and is there a group representation?

They do appear to be linked, so I guess they just want the problem to go away. As yet, none of the tax specialists I have spoken to have advised that one should settle. Mainly because they don't know what legislation will look like, how it will be challenged, how HMRC plan to issue follower notices (and on what basis) and more importantly because some of these schemes may well be defensible.

>"quite favourable" terms from HMRC
what terms are they offering?

[DonkeyRhubarb]

>"quite favourable" terms from HMRC
what terms are they offering?

What I heard was all of the tax + interest. No national insurance or penalties.

Not exactly what I'd call "quite favourable".

[Leebok]

The proposed Settlement Terms for Clients whose only involvement in employment/loan schemes was with TRM are as follows:
1. HMRC will include only years where they currently have open inquiries and assessments, up to 08/09 inclusive. They will not seek evidence of negligent behaviour in unprotected years, so there will be no liabilities for those years included in the resolution agreement.
2. HMRC will not seek to impose penalties on liabilities for those protected years.
3. Tax will be charged in those protected years on all loans and salary received, but to achieve consistency with other arrangements HMRC will at this time make allowance for management fees deducted from payments received. They have agreed a formula to achieve this. (NB This effectively charges tax on the ‘net’ Transfer of Assets figure. In future litigation HMRC are likely to be looking towards charging the full amount paid to the person offshore).
4. HMRC will be able to consider resolution either by enquiry closure notices and/or determination of appeals or through a contract settlement.
5. Interest will apply on tax for each year from the original due date until calculations are agreed. Once agreement is reached then payment in full within 90 days will attract no further interest. In cases of hardship instalment arrangements may be agreed – these will carry forward interest as appropriate.
6. Resolution will be on the basis of a Transfer of Assets charge on the loan/advances received. There will be no further charges of tax, NIC or VAT on the individuals for those years.
7. Resolution on this basis will constitute finality of liability in respect of the TRM arrangements for TaxTalk clients up to and including 2008/09. We would point out that HMRC have indicated that this finality would apply irrespective of the result of any litigation by other parties in respect of TRM.

[jbryce]

TRM - a scheme that used foreign currency magic to cancel loans?

It may be worth noting that TRM used foreign currency magic to, in effect, cancel the loans paid. So - it's on pretty dodgy ground after Boyle.

In the case of many EBTs the loans are still payable and, as is so often said, it is on an individual scheme basis if the scheme was effective.
Some schemes were just badly managed, handled and rubbish - others may be effective and defendable.
Which is why we have courts and appeals etc.
...for the moment at least.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Which is why we have courts and appeals etc.
...for the moment at least.

No, you will always have courts.

It's just that the judge and jury will be HMRC.

[DotasScandal]

:-)
Sorta like in the USSR in the good old days. The future surely looks bright!!!

[vern19]

:-)
Sorta like in the USSR in the good old days. The future surely looks bright!!!

North Korea springs to mind

[MLMIJYD]

Very Nervous about this

The proposed Settlement Terms for Clients whose only involvement in employment/loan schemes was with TRM are as follows:
1. HMRC will include only years where they currently have open inquiries and assessments, up to 08/09 inclusive. They will not seek evidence of negligent behaviour in unprotected years, so there will be no liabilities for those years included in the resolution agreement.
2. HMRC will not seek to impose penalties on liabilities for those protected years.
3. Tax will be charged in those protected years on all loans and salary received, but to achieve consistency with other arrangements HMRC will at this time make allowance for management fees deducted from payments received. They have agreed a formula to achieve this. (NB This effectively charges tax on the ‘net’ Transfer of Assets figure. In future litigation HMRC are likely to be looking towards charging the full amount paid to the person offshore).
4. HMRC will be able to consider resolution either by enquiry closure notices and/or determination of appeals or through a contract settlement.
5. Interest will apply on tax for each year from the original due date until calculations are agreed. Once agreement is reached then payment in full within 90 days will attract no further interest. In cases of hardship instalment arrangements may be agreed – these will carry forward interest as appropriate.
6. Resolution will be on the basis of a Transfer of Assets charge on the loan/advances received. There will be no further charges of tax, NIC or VAT on the individuals for those years.
7. Resolution on this basis will constitute finality of liability in respect of the TRM arrangements for TaxTalk clients up to and including 2008/09. We would point out that HMRC have indicated that this finality would apply irrespective of the result of any litigation by other parties in respect of TRM.

Hello, I'm a newbie to this and have usually hear about this forum from my fellow contractors. I've got a similar problem but not quite but is there anyone on here that I could discuss this with who can point me in the right direction to assist? Many thanks

[cojak]

Contact convict. I'll ask Admin to give you PM rights as well.

For people who used The "Talent Resource Management" scheme and have either recently received the class of 08/09 invite or are already under the kosh due to an existing COP8 enquiry. Also for Cherrylon/Trentburg 2009/10 and 2010/11 tickets

Edit:For group representation queries ping me an email [email protected] (this goes for anyone else on TRM/Cherrylon/Trentburg too)

I'm getting quite a few emails. If you want to speed things up when you email me, include some sort of scheme membership proof.

[MLMIJYD]

Contact convict. I'll ask Admin to give you PM rights as well.

Hello can you also allow me to contact Convict as I'm another in this very worrying boat and need some advice on what I can do? I called and its on-hold but don't know where to go from here?

Thanks