Edge EBT thread

[Obodiah]

AA and Edge emailed back within the hour. AA advised to contact Edge. Michelle at Edge provided a suggested appeal response letter. I will send my appeal letter by recorded delivery to HMRC by the end of the week.

[demby]

Update on 2nd letter from HMRC

Michelle has confirmed that the letter received is the standard one being sent out by HMRC. She says that there is no need to go back to HMRC at this stage. There is no further supporting evidence that we need to give at this stage and can leave the matter in their hands for now. The ball is in their court now and they need to advise if they plan to take matters further.

[hereweg0again]

Don't fret too much ...

I was with Edge until 07/08 so have not received the joyous letter - not so for DH who got his today. In 08 I got a letter from HMRC stating they were investigating my tax situation - and that I owed more tax than I had paid (unspecified). Freaked me out at the time as the letter was sent to several hundred people and not several thousand so few people to talk too. Three years went by and I heard nothing but each year they kept back my overpaid tax until it totalled nearly £20K. Then last year they paid it back to me (a nice new kitchen resulted). The investigation was closed with no correspondence what so ever. I know they are under pressure from the media to close us out - but please know this is not the first time they've tried this on and previously it's led to nothing (other than stress on my side).

[Fairweather]

Another Edge bod from 08 to late 09, I had the letter a couple of weeks ago, appealed, and have had notice that they've received that and that it's on hold and they'll keep in touch. Guess we now just sit tight.

One thing has come to my mind though. We believe, and rightly so, our arrangements with Edge are loans. HMRC dispute that. What would happen if Edge were to send everyone a letter asking for a repayment of £nn.nn, (as they are entitled to do) That payment would be documented, so what would that do to the HMRC's argument?

[PeterF]

I was with Edge until 07/08 so have not received the joyous letter - not so for DH who got his today. In 08 I got a letter from HMRC stating they were investigating my tax situation - and that I owed more tax than I had paid (unspecified). Freaked me out at the time as the letter was sent to several hundred people and not several thousand so few people to talk too. Three years went by and I heard nothing but each year they kept back my overpaid tax until it totalled nearly £20K. Then last year they paid it back to me (a nice new kitchen resulted). The investigation was closed with no correspondence what so ever. I know they are under pressure from the media to close us out - but please know this is not the first time they've tried this on and previously it's led to nothing (other than stress on my side).

Interesting. I have an enquiry open for 07/08 too, plus other years back around then. I wonder what the basis for your closure was and why it would/wouldn't apply to others in a similar boat. Was your enquiry an actual EBT/avoidance/SI case or something different?

[Herewego]

waiting game

hi, Ex Edge employee here...received letter, sent appeal, received second letter, spoke to Michelle...now playing waiting game and visting this forum regularly...

[Michael J Perry FCA]

Appeal letter

Just to remind that my suggested appeal letter template is on the EBT forum to use for free and immediately if your appeal date is imminent. It is unlikely that late appeals will be accepted!

[JustAContractor]

JustAContractor

Another Edge contractor.. Just read all the pages and thanks to all that have contributed.

[bedworthlad1972]

How long till you received response

hi, Ex Edge employee here...received letter, sent appeal, received second letter, spoke to Michelle...now playing waiting game and visting this forum regularly...

I posted my appeal letter (registered post, 2 x letters to be safe!) last Wednesday. Still waiting for response. How long did it take for a response? A week I guess...

[GoneSouth]

I was with Edge until 07/08 so have not received the joyous letter - not so for DH who got his today. In 08 I got a letter from HMRC stating they were investigating my tax situation - and that I owed more tax than I had paid (unspecified). Freaked me out at the time as the letter was sent to several hundred people and not several thousand so few people to talk too. Three years went by and I heard nothing but each year they kept back my overpaid tax until it totalled nearly £20K. Then last year they paid it back to me (a nice new kitchen resulted). The investigation was closed with no correspondence what so ever. I know they are under pressure from the media to close us out - but please know this is not the first time they've tried this on and previously it's led to nothing (other than stress on my side).

Interesting post TYVM. If HMRC have investigated the scheme before and found in your favour it doesn't bode well for HMRC's case.

As far as I know there have been no changes to the tax law between then and Dec 2010 so do they really want to go before a tribunal and say "We investigated this scheme previously for 3 years and found nothing but now we are asking everyone for back-taxes"?

The obvious conlussions are they are either incompetent and missed something in those 3 years or they are now harassing users of a compliant scheme.

Of course don't want to kick the sleeping dog and approach them now, but if you do receive a letter re 08/09 you should consider requesting your HMRC file under the Data Protection Act as mentioned here and find out why the initial investigation was closed. You'll probably get knocked back, but it's worth a try.