Content
U-Turns Galore
Premises, Promises
Filing Bonus
RIP: 0% Rate
His and Hers
Party Spirit
State Of The Union
VAT's The Point?
Going Dutch
Away Win For Revenue
WIP-Round
The Best Land Plans
Tax Free Gizmos
Where Theres A Will
Do You Work Here?
Out Of The Shadows
Sacrifice Works
Home Sweet Office
Sauce For The Goose
Blissful Ignorance
PC Or Not PC?
Lost On Penalties
Worth The Paper
Carry The Can
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Now that HM Customs and the Inland Revenue have merged, you would expect that "the taxman" would present an even more united front to the world. But cases continue to come up to prove that you can't rely on them to be consistent with each other. That's not entirely their fault - the law has come from different sources, and the practices of the different departments over many years will take a long time to bring into line with each other. But it's important to remember that you can't make assumptions. In one case, a VAT inspector had told a trader that his vehicle was a van, not a car, so he didn't have to apply VAT fuel scale charges to diesel bought for it. But the tax inspector still wanted benefit-in-kind charges as if it was a car. The appeal Commissioner agreed with the income taxman - VAT has a special exclusion for vehicles which can carry a one tonne payload, but it isn't there for income tax. It was a van for VAT, and a car for tax. In another case, a couple running a Chinese restaurant were investigated by the Revenue for underdeclaring their profits. Once they had settled on a figure for income tax, Customs came round for the VAT. No particular surprise there, except that they wouldn't accept the figure that the Revenue had settled on: they wanted more. Again, the appeal Tribunal agreed with the authorities that the rules are different. The Revenue have traditionally struck a deal to get the cash in quickly and easily at the end of an investigation - Customs tend to want "the right amount", and will stick around until they get it. One thing that has been merged is the standard response time for letters. Accountants have complained that Customs used to promise a reply in 10 days, but now it's been extended to 15 in line with Revenue practice. We have been reassured that the Revenue have a target of 80% fully and correctly dealt with in 15 days, while Customs made no promises in the past! So perhaps that is progress after all. |
© Bayar Hughes & Co., 2010.