Last year £136 million of taxpayerâ??s money was spent on delayed or unanswered calls to the HM Revenue and Customs. The National Audit Office (NAO) reported that delays cost customers £33m in call charges while they waited for HMRC to answer the phone and the estimated value of customer time while they waited was £103m.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have offered taxpayers who have failed to file tax-returns a window of a few weeks to submit them, and has warned that if they fail to do so they will face large fines.
The normal procedure for HMRC is to issue fines of 100pc of the tax due to those who fail to file tax-returns, but in a special initiative they have offered taxpayers who have failed to submit returns for tax year 2009/2010 and earlier, the chance to submit the returns for a reduced fine rate of between 10pc and 20pc.
Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, has suggested a ‘wealth tax’ on richer Britons in order to reverse the economic crisis that has seen the UK enter into recession for the second time in five years.
Mr Clegg, who is Deputy Prime Minister of the coalition Government proposed that “people of a very considerable personal wealth have got to make a bit of an extra contribution” in order to assist what he describes as a “national effort”, in regards to turning the economy around.
HM Revenue and Customs will post pictures of their 20 most wanted tax fugitives from around the UK online, in a bid to get members of the public to report them.
HMRC are hoping that the sensitive issue of tax-evasion, which leaves many law abiding citizens feeling hard done by, will encourage people to come forwards and report the identified persons
Cash in hand payments to tradesmen and other services throughout the UK has been branded as ‘morally wrong’ by Treasury Minister, David Gauke. The minister warned that this is damaging the economy and assisting tax-evaders, whilst leaving others to foot the bill. It is thought that cash in hand payments costs Britain billions of pounds a year in lost tax revenue, while others had to pay more to make up for the losses.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has suggested a tax on bonuses received by bankers as part of scheme to lift the UK out of our recession. Other factors of the plan include a temporary cut in VAT as well as more capital investment, which Miliband predicts will help to turn around the 0.7pc drop in GDP experienced within UK over the last quarter.
It has been revealed that most British community sport is subject to 20pc tax, after an effort against HMRC was stepped up over their plans to levy VAT on 5-a-side football. Although it is possible for some organisations to avoid tax, it is believed that many of us who use gym’s or send children to after school sports classes, pay tax that is never apparent to us. Tom Kivlehan, VAT expert at accountants BDO explains: “This is an invisible tax. People don’t notice it – they just think things are outrageously expensive”
The Treasury has announced that the basic rate of tax could be cut by 2p if people paid the tax they were obliged to. In many cases it is thought that everyone else picks up the tab when the wealthy avoid their obligations.
After a Happy New Year celebration 2011 starts on a note not quite as happy. The VAT rise from 17.5% to 20% is here.
Business leaders are warning of adverse impact to the retail sector and opposition to the rise are expressing concerns that the poorest will be the worst affected.
The government has specified the necessity to reduce the National budget deficit as the reason for the rise and that the rise, in Chancellor George Osborne's opinion, was a more "progressive" move than hiking other taxes.
Some essential items such as children's clothing and food remain unaffected by VAT.
While George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, failed to mention a green stealth tax in has comprehensive spending review speech, the details are hidden in the official publication. Business leaders have already calculated that around £1 billion a year in green stealth taxes will be raised by the authorities adding around 11% to the average energy bills of British companies. Much of the extra funding will be raised by the carbon reduction commitment scheme which was initially set up to reward companies who were more efficient than their counterparts. However, this has all changed!
