Well, this won't help my sole trader client who sells flowers for cash outside various cemeteries.
He uses the previous day's takings to buy today's stock at market.
He keeps a diligent record of transactions.
He usually pays our fee in cash when he is in our area.
His circumstances are not likely to change until he is 66, a few years from now.
A few years ago, my then secretary, who was a couple of years from retiring, contacted HMRC to see how much state pension she would get.
She was horrified to discover that there was no record of her or her NI number.
It transpired that, when she started work as a teenager, her NI number was cancelled. She had a twin sister who also lived at her parents' home and whose name also began with an M. (Same address, same initial and surname and same date of birth - must be a duplication...)
She had worked before she got married and resumed work when her children were older.
Not surprisingly, she no longer had her P60's from her previous employments.
She was then asked to contact her previous employers to obtain duplicates. This was a bit difficult.
The first employer, a sole practising chartered accountant, was long dead. The next was a major company which had spectacularly gone bust some ten years previously.
In the absence of any records, she was asked to guess what went in the gaps. This guess was accepted.
I once turned up to attend an audit client company's VAT inspection to discover that the principal director, who did all of the bookkeeping, had died suddenly the previous night.
Two VAT officers were waiting and I explained that although my firm extracted information from the books (yes, books in those days) nobody now present was involved in the day to day bookkeeping. I also said that we had not seen the books since the last year end.
They would not accept my suggestion to rearrange a visit at a future date.
They then proceeded with their visit. The other staff, already visibly upset, some in tears, were not helped by the fact that the senior VAT person had settled comfortably into the dead man's chair and desk and was asking for a cup of tea.
Unsurprisingly, practically every question they asked about the detailed nature of the business and supporting evidence or nature of specific transactions was honestly answered "I don't know. Please leave me a written list of queries and someone will get back to you - but we don't yet know who or when".
There is also the fact that there is no way that notices to file SA100 returns are issued on 6 April as printed on them. These are often not received by post until well into June.
This also appears to apply to many other written communications.
As for retrospectively changing the position of outstanding cases - this must be a human rights breach.
Uber London Limited is operating on a temporary two month licence extension from its regulator, Transport for London.
It still does not have a normal licence because it has yet to satisfy TfL that its practices and procedures are sufficient to be deemed a fit and proper company to provide services to the public.
The VAT problem appears to be symptomatic of its general attitude towards complying with the law.
My answers
Well, this won't help my sole trader client who sells flowers for cash outside various cemeteries.
He uses the previous day's takings to buy today's stock at market.
He keeps a diligent record of transactions.
He usually pays our fee in cash when he is in our area.
His circumstances are not likely to change until he is 66, a few years from now.
To pay voluntary class 2 NIC, remember to put a cross in box 101 on SEF 5.
A few years ago, my then secretary, who was a couple of years from retiring, contacted HMRC to see how much state pension she would get.
She was horrified to discover that there was no record of her or her NI number.
It transpired that, when she started work as a teenager, her NI number was cancelled. She had a twin sister who also lived at her parents' home and whose name also began with an M. (Same address, same initial and surname and same date of birth - must be a duplication...)
She had worked before she got married and resumed work when her children were older.
Not surprisingly, she no longer had her P60's from her previous employments.
She was then asked to contact her previous employers to obtain duplicates. This was a bit difficult.
The first employer, a sole practising chartered accountant, was long dead. The next was a major company which had spectacularly gone bust some ten years previously.
In the absence of any records, she was asked to guess what went in the gaps. This guess was accepted.
I once turned up to attend an audit client company's VAT inspection to discover that the principal director, who did all of the bookkeeping, had died suddenly the previous night.
Two VAT officers were waiting and I explained that although my firm extracted information from the books (yes, books in those days) nobody now present was involved in the day to day bookkeeping. I also said that we had not seen the books since the last year end.
They would not accept my suggestion to rearrange a visit at a future date.
They then proceeded with their visit. The other staff, already visibly upset, some in tears, were not helped by the fact that the senior VAT person had settled comfortably into the dead man's chair and desk and was asking for a cup of tea.
Unsurprisingly, practically every question they asked about the detailed nature of the business and supporting evidence or nature of specific transactions was honestly answered "I don't know. Please leave me a written list of queries and someone will get back to you - but we don't yet know who or when".
At the time I was shocked. Now I know better.
Oh ye of little faith!
What Finance Bill?
When?
There is also the fact that there is no way that notices to file SA100 returns are issued on 6 April as printed on them. These are often not received by post until well into June.
This also appears to apply to many other written communications.
As for retrospectively changing the position of outstanding cases - this must be a human rights breach.
Duplicate posting removed.
"Tax payers as well as pupils being taken for a ride"
I thought that was the general idea.
Uber London Limited is operating on a temporary two month licence extension from its regulator, Transport for London.
It still does not have a normal licence because it has yet to satisfy TfL that its practices and procedures are sufficient to be deemed a fit and proper company to provide services to the public.
The VAT problem appears to be symptomatic of its general attitude towards complying with the law.