HMRC is consulting on a proposed statutory power allowing the department to withdraw a notice to file a self assessment tax return and to cancel any penalty for failure to make such a return.
Use of the term ‘customer’ helps to remind HMRC staff that taxpayers and tax credit claimants deserve ‘the same consideration and attention that those who use commercial services receive’, HMRC told Tax Journal today in response to a new campaign launched by Taxation magazine.
HMRC could have collected £1.1bn more in taxes if it had not cut the numbers of staff working on enforcement and compliance activity by more than 3,300 over the life cycle of its Compliance and Enforcement Programme, according to the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The ‘high income child benefit charge’ included in the current Finance Bill is ‘seriously flawed in principle and in practice’, the ICAEW Tax Faculty has warned.
Tax campaigner Richard Murphy’s estimate of the UK’s tax gap is ‘misleadingly high’, HMRC has said in a submission to the House of Commons Treasury Committee.
‘Britain’s only listed accountancy firm is to close its specialist tax division in a move that will be regarded as another victory for Revenue & Customs against tax avoidance by the rich.
Good progress has been made on a number of aspects of HMRC service delivery, the Chartered Institute of Taxation reported last week, as the tax body’s incoming President noted that ‘government cutbacks’ were making it ‘more and more difficult for HMRC to give a sensible service’.
Extra support for people who need to contact HMRC following a bereavement represents a positive step towards an improved service for bereaved taxpayers, according to the CIOT’s Low Incomes Tax Reform Group.
A new version of HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools reflects Budget 2012 changes, and provides a number of improvements as well as ‘a few small fixes’.
Jim Ferguson, Head of the Review of HMRC’s Powers, wants to reassure agents about the new dishonest tax agents legislation.