Is it wrong to avoid paying tax?

Is this why HMRC are not doing their job.

"The Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise departments, formerly two bodies with distinct identities, separate from the Treasury, are now merged and housed with the Chancellor and his ministers. On HMRC’s reformed Board it would be good to see some freethinkers, like Sikka, or Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK, other members of the Green New Deal, or John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network.

Instead, we find former tax planners Ian Barlow (formerly KPMG), John Whiting (formerly PWC), and Edward Troup (formerly Simmons and Simmons). And moving lately in the opposite direction was Dave Hartnett, now working for Deloittes, and HSBC."

Too many poachers turned gamekeepers.

Switzerland doing the Tories job for them.

www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/18/hsbc-swiss-bank-searched-as-officials-launch-money-laundering-inquiry

Poor old Ballsy.

As soon as he opened his mouth to say you should get a receipt for any job you pay for in cash you just knew there would be someone to pull him up by the seat of his trousers., enter stage left his window cleaner.

It was obvious if partisan politics are proffered up then you do so at the risk of being scrutinised/challenged. Labour threw the do do but came up smelling just as bad.

I think people remember only too well cash for honours, cash for questions, flipping homes, MP's expenses and tax evading stories.

I don't for one minute think there are many people who believe any one of the 3 main parties has squeaky clean hands, although obviously there are always some. More to come out I'm sure on all of them.

Then they ought to be 'goaled' (since when was this a verb?) by the amount of money retrieved.

This question was generated by a Radio 4 programme and it was being talked about again on Today, this morning.

A Tax Accountant was saying that the HMRC agents(?) are goaled by the number of people they get money from and this leads to them aiming for small businesses. Surely this is far too simplistic a target or did I misunderstand it?

Like Elegran says, it just seems to be daunting the first time you do it on your own, but it's actually quite easy if you organise your receipts and mileage, etc.
The other problem is that so many people leave their tax return until the end of the year, then hurry to do it. If you do it as soon as you have all your bits of paper, and organise things before you go on the HMRC website, it's easy. Most of the answers are 0 anyway with such a small business.
I presume you do it because you are self-employed. That's why it's necessary to pay NI. It would save governments a lot of money if the self-employed did not pay extra NI.

Jen - you are right, to be honest, now with only 2 clients, it should be a doddle.... I use their materials so the only outlay I have is mileage expenses.

I have just had my attention directed to this.

"Where the Commissioners are of the opinion that the main purpose or one of the main purposes for which any transaction or transactions was or were effected was the avoidance or reduction of liability to the profits tax, they may, if they think fit, direct that such adjustments shall be made as respects liability to the profits tax as they consider appropriate so as to counteract the avoidance or reduction of liability to the profits tax which would otherwise be effected by the transaction or transactions. "

This was in the 1951 Finance Act.
Profits tax then is the same as corporation tax now.

If this was law then, why can't it be now?

I never thought of that.

Of course he does, POGS. He needs a receipt to claim it back on expenses.

My window cleaner and gardener know my name and address, and give receipts. I trust them.

Well Ed Balls has told you what you should do.

Give your name and address and get a receipt when you pay in cash , even if it's for a tenner to get your hedge cut. He guarantees he does.

The tax forms are much easier the second time around, when you know what you are doing. If you do the self-assessment online you can pause whenever you like and save what you have filled in so far. They have a list of which pages you have completed and which are still to come, and you can review the whole thing before sending it off irrevocably.

She has actually told us that she only has two clients now, one of whom pays cash and the other straight into her bank account, so I am not presuming anything. She said herself she could probably attempt to do it herself this year. All I was saying was that Nannygoat's does not sound as complex as absent's. Do you have to attack me on everything I say?

jen You have no idea what Nannygoat's situation is, and it's presumptuous to suppose that you do.
However I do agree that the Revenue can and do make mistakes, and when that happens having a professional on your side is invaluable.

Yes, but Nannygoat's doesn't sound all that complex.
I used to have an accountant when I had a business, but now it's just pensions and bank accounts it's easy.
I used to do all the accounts myself when I had a business, then the accountant checked my figures and saved me money knowing what extra I could allow for as tax-free. It saved me time as well as providing peace of mind.
A couple of years ago I had a letter from HMRC saying I owed them a couple of thousand because of mistakes when we sold the business. They sent a copy to the accountant, who was most upset that they had queried his professional competence. He was right, fortunately.

durhamjen I don't think my accountant saves me money, let alone what I pay her, but I do think she earns what I pay her for dealing with my somewhat complex tax situation with income from different sources and my living outside the UK. One of the last things I need is HMRC getting stroppy because I have filled in something incorrectly or omitted some information that I should have supplied. Peace of mind is invaluable.

Free prescriptions absolutely nothing to do with whether you receive a pension. The online form is much easier than it looks at first sight- you answer some questions at the beginning and if you answer no - eg income from property abroad, then those pages do not come up. If you don't understand something, you can click onto an icon and an explanatory box pops up.

It's not as daunting as it looks Nannygoat but do remember to collect everything as you go along, even if you stuff it in an old shoe box. Most of it is quite straightforward as you'll have a record of money in, money out, invoices etc, in your own account book. It's little things like interest on bank accounts. shares, little annuities you might have, etc that can throw you at years end.

And don't miss the January deadline.

I will prob attempt to do my own tax this year then, though when I started a couple of years ago, I had about six clients dotted about all over the place, but now I'm down to two, it should be a doddle (hopefully!). I know I looked at the online form once and it scared the bejeesus out of me... not that I own property, investments or anything, just confusing!

It's true, Nanny, that if you do not pay NI you do not get a pension. Not sure about prescriptions.
You can do it online yourself, without an accountant, though.
Does the accountant save you more than you pay him/her?
If not, it does not make sense to employ one.

I know, I know, 50 squid for someone to do my accounts a year! I prob could do it online myself, my spreadsheet works out my mileage costs - I am a worrier, I don't want to do the wrong thing.

I didn't think I had a choice! I get a reminder to pay my NI quarterly (works out around £70 ish quid) else I don't get pension or prescriptions, no?

NannyGoat

Have I got this right?

You were 6 hours plus doing 2 cleaning jobs but you pay an accountant to do your books!

Is that because you want to pay NI on your income??

TerriS - I work as a part time cleaner (for a whole six and a bit hours a week) - I am paid cash in hand by one client and straight into my bank for the other client, I log everything down on a spreadsheet and run my accounts through an accountant. I don't earn much at all, yes I don't end up paying tax, but I still pay an accountant and pay National Insurance.... it's not all jolly good fun and raking it in you know!