Author Topic: Greek style taxman?  (Read 4810 times)

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Offline Maik

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Greek style taxman?
« on: Wednesday, 04 November, 2015 @ 09:24:01 »
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'Abysmal' HMRC customer service 'could be costing the UK money'
MPs' report also warns organisers of many tax avoidance schemes are 'running rings around the taxman'

The quality of customer service at the tax office – which currently answers only half of the calls from the public – is so dismal that it could be costing the country money, MPs have warned.

They condemned the “woeful” performance of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for combating offshore tax evasion and claimed that the organisers of many tax avoidance schemes were “running rings around the taxman”.

Even if people managed to get through, they faced a long wait to speak to an adviser as less than 40 per cent of calls were answered within five minutes.

It said the HMRC, which collected £517.7bn from taxpayers last year, had “incredibly” only prosecuted 11 people over offshore tax evasion in the last five years.

Only one of the cases related to name on the “Falciani list” - leaked by a whistleblower at HSBC’s private Swiss bank - which had identified some 3,600 UK people potentially engaged in tax evasion.

The committee said: “There is therefore no credible punishment to deter people from breaking the law in this manner.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/abysmal-hmrc-customer-service-could-be-costing-the-uk-money-a6720276.html

Offline Maik

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Re: Greek style taxman?
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, 04 November, 2015 @ 09:25:07 »
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Millions of people may have filled in their tax returns incorrectly because HMRC is failing to answer their calls, MPs have warned as they condemned its its "abysmal" customer service.

Half of all calls to the taxman in the first six months of this year were not picked up, equivalent to 12 million unanswered calls.

There are fears pensioners are particularly impacted because fewer of them are on the internet and they often have complicated tax arrangements.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/11973576/Millions-could-have-filled-out-tax-returns-wrong-due-to-HMRC-phone-failures-MPs-warn.html

Offline Maik

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Re: Greek style taxman?
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday, 04 November, 2015 @ 09:46:44 »
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Taxman hounds the vulnerable for debts they don't owe as nearly nine out of ten people who take their case to arbitration win

In her report, Adjudicator Judy Clements says: ‘I’m critical of the number of complaints where HMRC staff failed to consider the circumstances of their vulnerable customers - especially where [they] had the opportunity to exercise discretion.’

She also highlighted a number of particularly worrying cases where HMRC had failed to act fairly. In one example, Ms A, who suffered from severe dyslexia, had asked for documents to be sent in a larger print size.

This took a while to create, so she ended up receiving a letter on February 10 relating to a self-assessment tax return, which requested she pay her bill by January 31.

She phoned HMRC to say the letter was too late and no payslip to settle her debt to the Revenue was enclosed.

Her payment deadline was extended, but the payslip arrived too late for her to meet the new deadline, so she ended up being hit with interest and penalties.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3302419/How-taxman-hounds-vulnerable-debts-don-t-owe.html

Offline TonyKath

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Re: Greek style taxman?
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, 04 November, 2015 @ 18:48:59 »
 :oki: :oki: :oki:

Tony