This comes from the Parliamentary Accounts Committee report published this morning on HMRC:
The Department is not being even handed in its treatment of taxpayers. It is unfair that large companies can settle their tax disputes with the advice of professionals at less than the full amount due and that they have been allowed up to 10 years to pay their tax liabilities, while small businesses and individuals on tax credits are not allowed similar leeway. The Department has promised to look into the treatment of these groups of taxpayers in terms of its fairness and reasonableness. It should report back to us on any actions taken to address the wider policy or process issues identified as a result of its examination.
There has long been concern that this is the case.And it is absurd that the concern has been ignored, and even made into a matter of policy which favours big business.
It is time that the Board of HMRC was radically reshuffled to ensure that such favour, bias and unreasonable conduct cannot happen again.
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That’s right, neither fair nor even-handed, and all this started when Labour got in according to one of your buddy Nick’s HMRC contacts The Treasure Islands blog so let’s not kid ourselves things are going to get any better under Labour when they inevitably get in next time. They’re as much in thrall to big business as this lot are.
I agree
Labour have to change too
They’re far from innocent of blame
The problem is that HMRC and large corporations both have relatively deep pockets when it comes to paying for representation, so settlements will be reached. In contrast the average man in the street has very limited resources and an argument about his/her tax bill will never justify the incredible cost involved. Fortunately from time to time an individual can arrange the funds to fight over small amounts of money, but normally HMRC have it all their own way.
If we want a fairer system then perhaps HMRC should be limited to spending as much on professional advice (internal or otherwise) as the person they are fighting against.
One only has to look at the Arctic Systems case to see how much HMRC will spend fighting over a relatively small amount of money for a single individual. The amount spent by HMRC on that case may be justified by the wider implications of the judgement, but it is difficult for a single individual to avoid being crushed by the financial burden. As long as it costs about half a million pounds to fight a case the man in the street won’t receive the same treatment from HMRC as a major corporation arguing over millions or even billions in tax.