If you were reading my blog earlier in the week you will have seen that HMRC are generously doing their bit to cut the Budget deficit by having an Autumn feeding frenzy as far as employer compliance reviews, tax investigations, steal the last penny off your Gran are concerned, so how does this stack up with the following:
The FT has reported that HMRC are apparently going to adopt a less “combative approach” to resolving tax disputes with businesses.
It seems that there is a “logjam” of legal cases relating to the “contentious” issue of avoidance, which are very expensive in terms of both time and money.
Even Dave Hartnett, permanent secretary for tax at HMRC, has expressed concerns that maybe HMRC have been a tad “heavy handed”:
“HMRC is packed full of very intelligent people, but we are sometimes too black-and-white about the law.”
He went on to comment on HMRC’s litigation strategy, which was introduced in 2007:
“I think we got it a bit wrong in the way we explained it to our people. They thought it was a great sword of justice.”
Who do these people think they are, it’s ridiculous and if the likes of David Hartnett thinks that this approach is going to be changed when the very people he is talking about are having the threat of the sword being shoved where the sun don’t shine if they don’t get in the extra revenue, then he is as mad as a box of frogs!
