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9am Lowdown
AccountingWEB

9am Lowdown: Railway worker receives £14 trillion tax letter

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11th Aug 2016
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Good morning – in this morning’s lowdown, a railway worker received a shock when he opened a letter from HMRC, and the ins and outs of the Brexit debate continues on Any Answers.

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Railway worker receives £14 trillion letter

A railway worker who recently changed his tax code got a shock when HMRC said he may be paying £14 trillion too little in tax.

Giles Hembrough contacted HMRC to let them know about the tax letter blunder. “When she opened my file she said 'Oh that is a big amount, it looks like someone has fallen asleep on the keyboard!'" he recalled.

Hembrough calculated that it would take him 369m years to pay off tax bill error. “If it was £100,000 or even £10,000 I might have been a bit concerned that I did owe it for some reason, but the figure was so large that I knew it wasn't right,” he said. 

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Cloud user champions software to mums

An Australian cloud champion is using the school summer holidays to call on mothers running their own businesses to switch to cloud accounting.
 

Kylie Fieldhouse, the owner of Mums Tax Support, believes the visual nature of cloud accounting appeals to the female client base. While the summer holidays provides an opportunity for SME mums to get to grips with the software. “I am suggesting clients try it out when they have quieter times, such as during the summer period, which is often a time when business mums focus on getting their admin done,” she said.

Fieldhouse’s cloud crusade focuses on the simplistic nature of the software, which uses easy to digest terms such as 'buying' and 'selling', that people can easily relate to. Promoting the flexibility for mums, Fieldhouse said: “There are lots of core features in the software that are going to help save time on administration.”

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Will Brexit cut the red tape?

The Brexit noise has calmed down recently as those tasked with negotiating Britain’s exit from the EU plan their approach. However, the EU debate continues on Any Answers.

AccountingWEB member Glennzy questions whether the vote Leave’s pledge of cutting the EU red tape will actually come to fruition. Glennzy ponders this having been asked by two small businesses for help with complying with “unnecessary and over the top” red tape.

The AccountingWEB community is not convinced. Moonbeam said: “Just after I set up in business Mrs Thatcher promised to reduce the red tape. The whole regulatory environment from then on mushroomed.”

What do you think? Head over to Any Answers and join the discussion. 

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