Accountancy Age report that Chris Oates of Ernst & Young has said:
The contacts I have across the major accountancy firms indicate that just a few hundred people have actually notified the Revenue that there is tax to pay
Well, that's hardly surprising. Firstly you'd expect the Big 4 to have their clients under control. Second, if those clients could go offshore you'd have expected the Big 4 to have told them how to do so, and to make sure it was legal. Third, it's unlikely people who are worried about this are going to form an orderly queue to get help from the Big 4 on this. Price might just be an obstacle. Last, I know KPMG only sent out their brochure on this last week (as I got it). That was half way through the notification period, which was really timely, I thought.
But are people worried? Yes, they are. Google UK tax amnesty and this site comes up first and second. And I'll tell you, the traffic from that is high. E & Y may not be seeing the evidence, but I am. Which may be a lesson to them that the world is not seen solely from their perspective.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
And quite frankly, if people aren’t interested, more fool them.
I was quite entertained by this article from Accountancy Age:
http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2188240/vips-famous-face-hmrc-wrath
and in particular the last comment from John Cassidy of PKF, that they’re expecting tax-dodging VIPs to face show trials. Admittedly, Gordon Brown was accused of being Stalinist recently, but I think that’s taking it a little far…
Richard is absolutely right and for reputational reasons it would be very surprising indeed, would it not, if the bigger firms reported that vast numbers of their existing or prospective client were criminal tax evaders. So an utterly meaningless comment from E+Y in my opinion.
The business of all tax advisers, and of the Big 4 in particular, is fees. Fees only arise when you give advice and big fees only arise when you give complex advice. And tax advice does not consist in telling people eg to hide money offshore and not declare it – it consists in complex, but (purportedly) legal structures for avoidance.
The firms who might tell clients to hide money offshore and otherwise not declare income are the technically inept or incompetent, the bottom feeder bookkeepers and the criminals.
Most of these firms, I would venture to suggest, would be in the unregulated areas or offshore, with commission paid being an important commercial arm-twister.