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Tax lecturer?
I once told the chap selling me a large Christmas tree (for cash) that I was a tax lecturer when he enquired.
The poor man almost fell off the back of his lorry in shock. He thought I said "tax inspector". I suppose with your head in a pile of Nordic Fir it's understandable!
CPD
I feel Mark Lee makes a good point but it seems that it is only the professional bodies who ensure its members do just that ie obtain CPD points.
Whatever one feels about qualifies /unqualified agents I hope that in due course HMRC ensures that those who wish to remain an agent do have some means of being up to date otherwise its greater reliance on agents could be misplaced.
conspirator, moi ?
I hate to spoil a good conspiracy theory, but I am a member of the Agents and Advisers steering group and this is certainly not where it's head is at. From memory the idea came up but was given short shrift - I suspect that HMRC's people on the group were not even aware of the proposed role in money laundering.
Paul
You took the words out of my mouth! Exactly.
I was also going to say to Simon, that there is more to the whole issue than any steering group's minutes. Figures show that the ICAEW, is shedding sole practitioner members like they are going out of fashion. I wonder if the position is same for the other main accounting bodies? You and I know that there are more agents/accountants around than ever and so it is quite plain to see that more and more people are not bothering with qualifications.
Going back to CPD, tax is so taxing and changeable at the moment that I seriously doubt that any person can ever say that they are fully up to date, no wonder that HMRC's helpline staff struggle at times.
The unofficial ranking of accountants - where?
No-one so far has asked my burning question. The article mentions a list out there prepared by an ICAEW member (unofficially) and published. How can I get a look?
If it appeared on a website page now deleted I have some software which might still get me to it.
Anyone have a location for the list?
Intention
Using MLR for tax compliance may not have been the initial intention (honest gov?), but when it comes to cost cutting -i.e. killing two birds with one stone it is quite hard to argue against using existing information.
This is exactly what has just happened with VAT - see New use for Intrastat data
All in a name...
I have been calling myself a tax consultant for years rather than an accountant. I did call myself a tax advisor once when an old school friend asked - she misheard though and thought I said "Taxi driver" so I don't use that one anymore!
defining " accountant"
Agreed, the extended MLR's an ineffective job creation exercise and clouds the ratings of accountants further.
I suppose changing my job description to "numberwang consultant" might swerve the MLR & offending the ICAEW in one fell swoop!
No surprise...
David states "Furthermore using information from MLR compliance operations to inform HMR&C's tax compliance work was certainly not the intention when government put forward HMR&C as the appropriate body to deal with MLR compliance."
However, I would state that with the current Government's insidious and continual movements towards a "Big Brother" state, mostly based on the lies and hyping of this bogus "war on terror", their illegal wars, their ID cards by stealth, their deceit regarding an EU referendum, it would come as no surprise to me that they will now use the MLR compliance operations to start vetting accountants. No surprise at all.
The MLR 'fit & proper' test
Whoever suggested that the MLR 'fit and proper' test might help identify poorly performing tax agents is getting in a muddle!
The 'fit and proper' test:-
(i) will not be applied to persons / businesses which are accountancy service providers supervised by a professional body
(ii) is not related to competence or knowledge (but relates to past criminal convictions, bankruptcy, etc.), and
(iii) is only applied to 'trust and company service' providers (some of whom may also be accountancy service providers - but many ASPs will not be T&CSPs).
Furthermore using information from MLR compliance operations to inform HMR&C's tax compliance work was certainly not the intention when government put forward HMR&C as the appropriate body to deal with MLR compliance.