Good morning - today's lowdown has news on a business operating a misleading HMRC phone line, the fallout from Wednesday morning's raids on Newcastle and West Ham, and HMRC bonus payments.
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Business operating misleading HMRC helpline fined
The Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) has fined a business operating an HMRC connection service £645,000, the Low Income Tax Reform Group (LITRG) reported.
The misleading 09 phone number tricked people into paying call costs of £3.60 a minute to speak with HMRC. The business used ads on search engines promoting the number. The PSA received 69 complaints about the misleading service, noting that they were not aware of the costs.
The business must refund all consumers who claim a refund for the full amount spent by them on the call connection service within 28 days of their claim. The PSA advised people searching for numbers online to beware of paid-for advertising links and to be cautious of known companies operating 087 or 09 numbers.
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Fallout from HMRC football raid investigation
Lee Charnley, Newcastle United’s managing director, has been released without charge after his arrest yesterday in conjunction with the HMRC investigation into suspected tax fraud at the club, reports Sky Sports news.
The police raids Wednesday mornings are thought to be part of an investigation into the transfer of players between France and the UK. French authorities conducted similar raids, with French club Marseille implicated in the investigation. HMRC officials also requested documentation at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge offices but the club is not part of the investigation.
HMRC’s chief exec Jon Thompson told the Public Accounts Committee earlier this year that tax evasion within the football industry was the subject of open enquiries by HMRC. Thompson then labelled footballer image rights schemes the ‘biggest problem in football’.
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HMRC officials rewarded with bonuses
The Sun reports that senior HMRC tax officials have been rewarded with bonus payments worth £2.5m last year, taking the four year cumulative total to almost £10m.
In what the newspaper dubbed “reward for failure”, former HMRC chief executive Lin Homer gained the biggest bonus of £17,500 in each of the last two years. 80 of the highest paid HMRC officials picked up bonuses between £9,500 and £17,500.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Andrew Gwynne told the paper last week: “The British people will be appalled at these obscene payouts. They should not stand and under a Labour government, they won’t.”
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