Draft guidance for HMRC staff on the department’s updated Litigation and Settlement Strategy (LSS) runs to 45 pages.
The ‘refreshed’ LSS published last month sets out the principles governing HMRC’s handling of disputes in relation to taxes, duties and tax credits.
‘These arrests are just the start,’ said a senior HMRC official as the department announced the arrest of five plumbers in London, Hampshire, Surrey, Middlesex and the West Midlands.
Leading tax bodies have called on HMRC to take deliberate steps to win the trust of tax agents, many of whom ‘cannot understand’ why HMRC are considering investing in a system to monitor agents when the department needs to focus on improving its services.
A measure to prevent the acceleration of first year allowances will take effect from 12 August 2011 or earlier, rather than next April, because of evidence that the delay could result in the loss of ‘significant revenue’.
Wealthy businessmen who engage in large-scale legal tax avoidance face ethical questions just as much as do young looters, a leading political journalist has claimed.
HMRC have announced a single helpline number for people and businesses affected by this week's riots in English cities, and have offered to help taxpayers who have lost records or miss deadlines.
The economy has hit a soft patch, only partly because of special factors, making it harder for the government to reduce the budget deficit. David Smith investigates
The Bribery Act 2010 took effect on 1 July. Jason Collins examines its impact for Tax Directors and the interaction with the SAO rules