The Taxman Cometh- 'Tonight' 10.3.08

The Taxman Cometh- 'Tonight' 10.3.08

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Who watched 'The Taxman Cometh' without exclaiming 'Eh?' 'What?' 'Why?' throughout this abysmal programme!

Jonathan Maitland presented a poorly researched programme, lacking in explanation and devoid of information about why these unfortunate individuals ended up owing tax.

The taxi driver turned graphic designer was made bankrupt by the Revenue.So a self employed taxi driver who became a director thought he no longer needed to complete a tax return because he was having tax deducted at source! I suspect that his refusal to file a tax return was the cause of his demise but we learned nothing from the programme.Sending your payslips to the taxman does not suffice!

The guy who 'was forced' to hand back his company car because he had such a large underpayment-eh? Did he have mininal salary and large dividends so his K code could never recoup enough tax (50% max)? Again no explanation.

The pensioner who had been overpaying tax on his pension.No mention of the fact that for years annuity providers have got away with not operating PAYE and have just stopped tax at basic rate.It is only the new policy of forcing insurance companies to operate PAYE that has brought his overpayment to light!

All in all a terrible programme which posed more questions than it answered.The 'layman' I watched it with commented that he was 'no wiser than before I watched it'!

Sally

Replies (9)

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By User deleted
15th Mar 2008 00:12

I'm gutted - this could have been so good
Bloomin typical of the press; HMRC is descending into turmoil and disorder in a manner that's an unparalleled scandal, and what they do?

They search the country high and low until they find a case where the Revenue was actually in the right, make a big song and dance about it, and then they chuck in a case where the changes actually benefited someone and without them he'd have carried on overpaying tax till he died with nobody ever being any the wiser. (And didn't the annuity industry complain about that change when it came in? Oh yes...)

Groan.

If you want to lose further faith in the press, the Daily Wail has an excellent story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=528920&in_page_id=1770

Of course they don't want to know anything based on facts, so they never published my comment.

Anyone had a client made bankrupt by the revenue? How sodding long did they wait? How many assets did the client get rid of in the meantime? Had one this week where they intermittently danced threateningly for five years before actually doing anything. Client owned a house and a garage five years ago; it seems that now his brother owns a garage and his wife owns a house. Wonder if the trustee will ever get anything back...

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By petersaxton
14th Mar 2008 21:58

Robert Clubb
You are so right. ITV will not be aiming for an audience of accountants. It go the point accross very well without getting too technical.

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By Robert Clubb
14th Mar 2008 14:57

Just Who's Side Are You On?
Sally, it was on ITV, not BBC4! It had to appeal to the masses.

The Whistleblowers from HMRC probably got it right. If call centre staff really do have experienced staff, then I must be very unlucky and only get put through to those who appear to have just come off the training course.

Only today I have a case where HMRC have had a four attempts of calculating a liability from the same information. Yes, you've guessed it...............four different totals.

I really do worry about the frequently poor advice given by HMRC and so easily accepted by the naive taxpayer. The programme discouraged taxpayers from being unrepresented. Is that really such bad advice, given the reality of the situation, even for a neutral?

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By User deleted
11th Mar 2008 10:35

Ooh, that's harsh!
Actually, I am just writing a news item on this and wondering if someone would post to Any Answers first!

Verdict: Truly awful!

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By listerramjet
11th Mar 2008 11:56

did not watch it
although I had read about the taxi driver/director and his problems on t'internet.

surely if there is a point to this it is that tax is too complex for the man on the clapham omnibus to understand. In fact all that he understands at the moment is that a) he is paying too much, and b) the only reason he does not have the tax man on his back is that Gordon is laying them all off, and the ones that remain are fully engaged on the search for two missing CDs. Or to put it another way, the system is arbitrary.

And there is an issue because government policy seems to be to a) make it more complex, and b) shout it loud that tax does not need to be taxing, which is an obvious contradiction.

Can't comment on the program, and perhaps don't care - but I do feel that we are failing as accountants if we don't act to do something about this nonsense situation, and more to the point we are likely to be seen as irrelevent by those we seek to serve.

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By AnonymousUser
11th Mar 2008 11:30

Looked interesting ....
and I managed the first two minutes of the taxi driver "who had no idea why HMRC were demanding £12k". I uttered an eight letter expletive and watched Terminator 3 ... like the taxi driver I've seen it all before but I found the film much more believable!

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By AnonymousUser
11th Mar 2008 11:15

sometimes you can't win
i saw some of the programme. the piece about HMRC giving advice to a man concerning a tax rebate.
they are trying to be helpful I suppose, but there will be mistakes made by someone who has minimal training giving advice to someone who has little or no knowledge whatsover.
If they don't give advice they will be branded as unhelpful.
If they do give advice it will invariably be wrong.
The safest advice is to see an accountant, but not everybody wants to go to that expense.
there is no perfect system.

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By User deleted
11th Mar 2008 10:48

all wound up!
Sorry Nichola -I am sure you will be more measured in your approach but we are feeling so 'annoyed' by the programme lol!

Yes James you are so right!

So the moral of this story is get a good accountant if you want to keep your tax affairs in order....

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By mfbrown185
14th Mar 2008 14:56

Pretty bad - but.....

A short programme on a very big and complex subject - whose advertising strapline was "One million tax payers paying the wrong tax!"

It was sensationalist garbage, lacking well researched cases, thought provoking questions, and, even an explanation of who or why there are one million tax payers paying the wrong tax.

Other contributors were correct - Terminator 3 was more entertaining

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