Leaving the Apocalypse aside for a moment ...

[Sysman]

Richard Murphy, you say? Shirley not this Richard Murphy?

Aye, that's be the one and the same. Smug looking git.

[OwlHoot]

Richard Murphy, you say? Shirley not this Richard Murphy?

Great link, PB, and one of the comments hit the nail on the head

I have long thought that the two defining features of socialists are economic illiteracy and rampant hypocrisy. On both measures, Richard Murphy is a classic socialist.

so true ..

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Richard Murphy, you say? Shirley not this Richard Murphy?

[EternalOptimist]

Ouch MF !

Any other anecdoes re Compliancy V CutandRun ???

Not exactly, but my accountant told me of a rule that allows you to take a wodge out tax free when you fold your company, if you leave the wodge in for a year, 'you stand to make £1500'

then of course, I would have to pay him for the year. = £1500
the turd

[suityou01]

I have a new accountant.

invoiced the old

[VectraMan]

I've just applied to have a company struck off, and I'm letting the state keep the £10 ish left in the bank. The last two returns have been all zeros, but I still did them (and got a £100 fine on one). I hate being a good two shoes.

[AlfredJPruffock]

******* livid with one of my accountants a few years back. Old style type, real straight laced, picked over every item.

I'd been pretty poor with one Ltd company, had two others on the go and due to problems with an accountant prior to my new one, had fallen behind and was being threatened with being struck off the register.

I was going to close anyway, but he told me I needed to be compliant and then close. So did the accounts, reworked the previous years which had been wrong. Paid £2k for the privaledge and landed up with a £15000 bill of which £1000s were in fines and late charges.

When I applied to be struck off, HMRC said 'Why didn't you just let us strike you off last month. It would have been automatic and you wouldn't have had to pay the bill!'

I have a new accountant.

Ouch MF !

Any other anecdoes re Compliancy V CutandRun ???

[MarillionFan]

Having just done my accounts yesterday on a company I will close this year I am really annoyed to read this today. I could have just not bothered with the accounts for the last three years and got it closed for nothing.

******* livid with one of my accountants a few years back. Old style type, real straight laced, picked over every item.

I'd been pretty poor with one Ltd company, had two others on the go and due to problems with an accountant prior to my new one, had fallen behind and was being threatened with being struck off the register.

I was going to close anyway, but he told me I needed to be compliant and then close. So did the accounts, reworked the previous years which had been wrong. Paid £2k for the privaledge and landed up with a £15000 bill of which £1000s were in fines and late charges.

When I applied to be struck off, HMRC said 'Why didn't you just let us strike you off last month. It would have been automatic and you wouldn't have had to pay the bill!'

I have a new accountant.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Aye Xoggoth

Hindsight is a wonderful thing - Im sure this article might inspire some of the more adventurous contractors and may will give some of the CUK Accountants nightmares - the thought that one can forget all about all these tiresome Taxes and accountancy fees - just onen a company and fold it and walk away - simple !!!

Truly - Tax doesnt have to be Taxing !

[xoggoth]

Having just done my accounts yesterday on a company I will close this year I am really annoyed to read this today. I could have just not bothered with the accounts for the last three years and got it closed for nothing.

[doodab]

* Only 70% of companies are asked to file tax returns by HMRC.
* Of those companies asked to file tax returns in the year to March 2010 only two thirds actually did so.
* As a result of these two figures, only just over 45% of all companies filed tax returns for the year to March 2010.
* In the year to March 2009 (the last year with data available) just 33.6% of all UK companies actually paid corporation tax.

That is pretty grim reading, although as someone who's had a few pointless companies to my name I do wonder how many of them actually did anything? I have had a couple that were never asked to file tax returns but they also never generated any income or in fact did anything at all except eat a bit of my money.

Does it take into account dormancy?

[AtW]

Government agencies taking a “blind eye” to non-compliance are losing the Exchequer up to £16bn a year in lost tax, according to tax justice campaigner Richard Murphy.

I doubt companies that were struck off got so much money left to take - it's a write off and the only reason they don't do it to keep the books in a more favourable light, there is a need for Sarbanes-Oxley Act that applies to Govts of all levels...

[AlfredJPruffock]

Struck-off companies dodge £16bn a year


Government agencies taking a “blind eye” to non-compliance are losing the Exchequer up to £16bn a year in lost tax, according to tax justice campaigner Richard Murphy.

In a 68-page report published this weekend, Murphy found that in the year to March 2010 more than 500,000 firms were dissolved after failing to file accounts with Companies House.

“Rather than chase or prosecute them Companies House simply gets rid of the offending companies – so sweeping the problem of non-compliance with the law out of view,” the report concluded.

The agency’s reluctance to pursue non-compliant firms, combined with HMRC’s failure to collect tax from a majority of registered companies means that up to £16bn in tax goes uncollected every year, Murphy estimated.

Analysis of the Companies House register found that a majority of the 500,000+ companies dissolved during the year to March 2010 were removed from the Register of Companies because they did not file documents required by law. Roughly a third of all companies dissolved were less than two years old and had never filed accounts.

Evidence from the study suggested HMRC’s stance with non-compliant companies was equally lax. According to Murphy, HMRC does not appear to demand information from companies struck off if they are less than two years old. “In many cases we know almost nothing at all about those companies that disappeared forever,” the study stated. It also found:

* Only 70% of companies are asked to file tax returns by HMRC.
* Of those companies asked to file tax returns in the year to March 2010 only two thirds actually did so.
* As a result of these two figures, only just over 45% of all companies filed tax returns for the year to March 2010.
* In the year to March 2009 (the last year with data available) just 33.6% of all UK companies actually paid corporation tax.

Among 18 recommendations, the report suggested that UK-based banks should be required to advise HMRC and Companies House of bank accounts operated by UK-registered companies in order to pursue those that do not pay taxes nor file their accounts. It also suggested increased personal penalties for directors of non-compliant companies.