Reply to: HMRC Giant Cockup

[Svalbaard]

Anyone had a letter from HMRC today about this?

Yes. I'm due £2978 from HMRC.









PS - not really

[Doggy Styles]

"Ensuring everyone pays the correct amount of tax"

Wasn't that the mantra of Dawn Primarolo and Gordon Brown?

[d000hg]

Anyone had a letter from HMRC today about this?

[thunderlizard]

I'm wondering who will get fired (who's the outsourcer?) and if there are any jobs going.

Certainly. I'll just set you up on the HMRC billing system. You'll get £400/day.

3 months later sorry, £460/day
3 months later actually, -£200/day. We've sent somebody round to repossess your van.
3 months later oops. Should have been £1500/day. Expect some gold bullion in the post.
3 months later Actually no, it should have been £400 all along. Why didn't you tell us? Go directly to jail.

[NickFitz]

Self assessment? I invented that!

"My accountant told me to put my money into land, so I buried it in the back garden."

[Platypus]

I'd imagine it would be 'all hands to the pumps' until they get it sorted.

I'm wondering who will get fired (who's the outsourcer?) and if there are any jobs going.

I believe it's the shiny new system (and outsourcer) who's finding the crap left by the old system. I know that they're implementing new systems on new hardware at present.

[minestrone]

Speaking to a family member, who works for the dark side, at the weekend who mentioned something about the tulip hitting the fan soon.

[Troll]

They should just create a retrospective tax law, along the lines of "The tax you paid before 2010, was the amount you should have paid. Unless it was less than the amount you should have paid, in which case cough up you thieving tax evading bastards."

don't they already have powers to fine you if they mess up your tax but you don't tell them they have messed it up?
Or is that just for the self employed?

[SupremeSpod]

Self assessment? I invented that!

Doddy was an amateur compared with this fellow...

1987: Lester Piggott jailed for three years
Former champion jockey, Lester Piggott, has been sentenced to three years imprsionment after being found guilty of an alleged tax fraud of over £3m.

The 51-year-old remained stony-faced as he was sentenced by Mr Justice Farquharson at Ipswich Crown Court.
But his wife, Susan, collapsed in tears as he was taken to Norwich prison.

Piggott was jailed after failing to declare income to the Inland Revenue of £3.25m.
The biggest sum on the charge sheet relates to an alleged omission of £1,359,726 from additional riding income. Another alleged that for 14 years, from 1971, he omitted income of £1,031,697 from bloodstock operations.

False declarations
Piggott, whose personal fortune is estimated at £20m, is said to have used different names to channel his earnings in secret bank accounts in Switzerland, the Bahamas, Singapore and the Cayman Islands.

The nine times Derby winner has been prosecuted in the biggest individual income tax-dodging case ever brought in Britain and the sentence is the highest to be passed for a personal tax fraud.

Piggott was charged after a joint Customs and Inland Revenue investigation, codenamed Centaur after the halfman, half-horse beast of mythology, into his affairs.

The jockey was said to have signed false declarations to the Inland Revenue during three successive inquiries into his tax affairs between 1970 and 1985.

The judge remarked that Piggott even misled his own accountants "until the matter was forced out of you" last year.

Other leading jockeys and racing figures were also questioned during the inquiry but the Inland Revenue said it was "too early to say" whether more prosecutions will follow.

Top racing figures have been left stunned by the punishment imposed on Piggott, who has become a household name throughout the world.

The champion jockey, Pat Eddery said: "I am shocked and very sad. I did not think he would get three years, but the law is the law."

The sentence was condemned as a "terrible injustice" by the Newmarket trainer, David Thom, who said Piggott had put "more money in the taxman's coffers than any 100 people could have done."

But appeals for leniency by Mr John Mathew, QC, Piggott's counsel, had been rejected by the judge, who said he could not "pass over" the scale of Piggott's VAT and income tax evasion without an invitation to others tempted to cheat.

He will be eligible for parole after one year or if early release is refused, could earn remission of one year for good behaviour.

An example to us all.

[Mich the Tester]

They should just create a retrospective tax law, along the lines of "The tax you paid before 2010, was the amount you should have paid. Unless it was less than the amount you should have paid, in which case cough up you thieving tax evading bastards."

Self assessment? I invented that!

[NotAllThere]

They should just create a retrospective tax law, along the lines of "The tax you paid before 2010, was the amount you should have paid. Unless it was less than the amount you should have paid, in which case cough up you thieving tax evading bastards."

[d000hg]

Can't they just 'borrow' the 2 billion that was underpaid ? Where is Gordon Brown when he is most needed to sort something out ?

Well haven't they overpaid and underpaid roughly the same amount, about £2bn each way? It would have been much easier to not own up, but now they can't possibly avoid sorting it out because anyone who overpaid will demand it back.

Are both under/overpayments going to be accounted next tax year through adjustments to person tax codes, or is that only for taking more money?

[Jog On]

Thats the agent answer you expect on this site.

Someone dies in a horrible freak accident and the reply is 'So sad, wonder who is hiring manager is?'

[fullyautomatix]

Can't they just 'borrow' the 2 billion that was underpaid ? Where is Gordon Brown when he is most needed to sort something out ?

[cojak]