The abolition of Tax Returns...

[LamieRobertson]

Yes, the annual Tax Return was not popular but be careful what you wish for.

The government and HMRC want Real Time Information that presently applies to all employees and pensioners to extend to the self-employed and directors so they can try and achieve the twin aims of getting the tax in faster AND paying the right amount of universal credits. Yet the prospect of all directors, sole traders, partnerships and those with rental income filing monthly so 12 times a year is a nightmare prospect for all involved.

I wonder if Labour are quiet on this because if they should lose the GE then this could be a HUGE stick to beat the Tories and Lib Dems with in the next parliament (assuming they both supported it as is).

Thats the way i saw it....wish all my customers would pay up in time then! .....And how will it handle capital expenditure that is offset against tax..or a business like mine that is seasonal etc etc etc etc....so many questions to come with this one.
Still as has been said the Govrmnt and IT don't really go hand in hand.
Then of course i did see a comment about still being able to file a paper one!

I'll still need an Accountant to help me understand this lot

 

[LamieRobertson]

While i'm at it how about national insurance...merge it with income tax and get shot of it

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

And just how confident are you that HMRC will deliver?

The current job cuts and office closures have meant many staff being moved to man call centers (to meet highlighted targets) only to leave a backlog of postal work going back, it is rumoured, into the end of last year?

 

[NooBHA]

As an accountant I've just called my professional body about Chancellor Osborne's abolition of Tax Returns announcement in yesterday's Budget. Their response: there was no consultation process about this - the government and HMRC just went ahead and did it, there is only a 9-page HMRC White Paper about it and no other documentation to shed any light re the technicalities, filing or implementation requirements, nobody knows when the nitty-gritty will be published and nobody knows when "early 2016" - the start date - actually is.

The technical advisor I spoke with was candid in his pessimism. My professional body hastily emailed all members immediately after the Budget seeking responses saying "Please send your comments, if possible, by close of business on 19 March", so just 28 hours after the Budget!

Don't get me wrong, I think the aims are laudable but the undue haste of this in the run-up to a General Election is astounding. Interestingly, Labour have made absolutely no comment on the subject, they could have agreed with the aim but disagreed with the implementation / timetable, they're just too lily-livered to be seen to disagree with the populist move of getting rid of Tax Returns.

No one comes out of this with any credit. Utter shambles, a disaster waiting to happen.

As a Tax Accountant and former HMRC Inspector I can concur. This is not workable YET.

There will come a time when banks supply interest automatically to HMRC on a monthly basis and we are already operating payroll monthly but that all goes ''tits up'' as soon as you have banks or employers who fail to comply or go out of busines or who are taken over.

You also cannot get overseas companies or banks to comply so Untaxed sources of income and overseas sources taxpayers receive are relient of foreign bodies supplying the information. There is no network in place for this and there won't be for the forseeable future. The Netherlands have a system in place for banks to supply interest details direct to the Dutch Revenue but the dutch taxpayers still fill in the missing blanks of their tax returns with all unreported sources of income.

The Chancellor gave absolutely no details on this. It's a sweeping statement designed to win votes from people who don't look into it in any detail. People who just think Whoopeeeeee, no Tax Returns - Excellent, I will vote for that.

There will come a time when this might be feesible but we are at least 20 - 30 years away. After all, it has taken almost 70 years to get Switzerland and Lichtenstein to sign up to Dual Taxation agreements with the US and the rest of Europe and then all of a sudden George Osborne thinks no tax returns are necessary. The man is deluded and will probably be dead and buried when this comes into fores. me too for that matter.

 

[rippleman]

Anybody who has worked in tax for some years will be aware of HMRC's total ineptitude in getting reliable software systems up and running. At one time they department had over 40 different systems, none of which were linked. Today, the Self Assessment system isn't linked to the PAYE system. The Corporation Tax system isn't available to those working in Debt Management...and so it goes on.

HMRC follows the Microsoft "you do the Beta testing" approach so I have zero confidence in HMRC's software bods getting a system in place that actually works. More grief and aggravation for taxpayers and their professional agents is on the horizon.

Why would any tax payer want to pay taxes before the due date? Why should the government earn interest on our money?

The changes, once they have the systems in place, will save HMRC some staff costs but I can't see it significantly increasing the tax yield. Rather than putting more "compliance" on employers and businesses, HMRC would do better to go for the tax evaders with the offshore accounts. But is a Conservative government ever going to go for their mates who donate money to them? Probably unlikely!

(And bear in mind that the head of HMRC at the time the HSBC list was provided by the whistleblower was Dave Hartnett. Hartnett, who had to resign over the Vodafone and ML deals, now holds a senior position with..........HSBC)

 

[virtual22]

While i'm at it how about national insurance...merge it with income tax and get shot of it

Then you would be taxing pensioners on their pension income, which at the moment they don't as obviously NI is only taking from earnings. As pensioners vote more than any other section of society I can't see any party doing this. You could increase the personal allowance more for over 65's but then you start making things more complicated again. I think there's other things they need to scrap first like Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax) and just bung it on fuel, then everyone has to pay it end of.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The price of austerity ? Reduces the headcount in HMRC and promotes the use of new technology at the same time.

But will it work?

Today is the day that DEFRA have announced that their all-singing, all-dancing online farm payment system is to be abandoned after 'performance problems'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31976230

 

[Pavilionaire]

But will it work?

Today is the day that DEFRA have announced that their all-singing, all-dancing online farm payment system is to be abandoned after 'performance problems'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31976230

Good spot LB. I liked this bit:

A multi-million pound government IT system to process EU subsidy payments for farmers in England has been largely abandoned after "performance problems".

The system will be re-launched next week with farmers asked to submit Basic Payment Scheme claims on paper forms.

Farmers say they have struggled with the £154m website for months.

Mark Grimshaw, chief executive of Defra's Rural Payments Agency (RPA), said the decision had been made "having listened intently" to farmers.

Who would have thought the farmers would struggle with the website? Surely having 6 fingers on each hand means you can type and navigate that much faster?