THANK YOU SO MUCH for picking my question & expanding on it - very clearly & comprehensively. I can now go back to the group & confidently tell them the position on this.
oh yes, couldn't agree more. Having had TWO HMRC AML investigations in the last few years (bad luck?), both leaving me with a feeling for some weeks afterwards that I wanted to quit entirely cos it was going to take me longer to fill in all the risk assessments every time something changed than actually doing the paid work, common sense should prevail.
This talks about directors but - & I may have missed it in a quick read - what about sole traders who also may have abused the system in a similar way?
They obviously can't be disqualified but there is surely some means of investigation & consequence?
Couldn't agree more with all of the comments so far. And so pleased to realise I'm not alone in my opinions.
I've been subject to AML audits by HMRC twice. It's a box ticking exercise at their end & I'm an easy target. My clients couldn't be less risky if they tried. I have stopped 'doing' bookkeeping (I'm not an accountant even) & now only set up online accounts systems & teach how to use it for daily transactions but that still comes under AML so I have to pay my £340 a year, pay to do verification of IDs & tick boxes on my own forms to satisfy the rules in case I get a subsequent check. Or I might get fined or prosecuted.
They'd do better spending the money to make the HMRC online systems more stable & robust & efficient & make sense!
@norstar Couldn't agree more.
Having decided in early 2020 that I no longer wanted to 'do' bookkeeping for ungrateful unappreciative clients who didnt want to pay what the work was worth, I took a break in 2020-2021 (thank you pandemic!) & for most of the last year have been slowly building a new brand, aimed at a very specific client base of self employed business owners who would come under MTD for ITSA & 2023 was to be the time to really push as the deadline loomed.
I have spent hours holding webinars, presentations, patiently answering questions, helping the clueless & scared, created courses & resources. What a waste of time.
This delay has totally blown my entire business plan for 2023 to pieces because no matter how much you try to persuade them that going digital (done right) makes it all so simple & easy & is less stress & up to date information is valuable when you make decisions about your business investment & growth, etc. blah blah, they just don't want to know. It was the mandatory requirement that was going to prove the pudding.
I know some will argue don't put all your eggs in one basket but this afternoon, I don't want really to hear it. I will lick my wounds for a few hours & then pick myself up & start again. Oh hum!
part from what Duggimon says about first checking RTI submissions & then the relevant employees tax records for employment pay in the period and wondering why any company so far behind with submissions like GHarr says, I'm puzzled as to what VAT has to do with CJRS? superfluous information?
Happy to be educated in case I missed something?
oh that would be marvellous cos getting definitive answers out of HMRC is like plaiting fog!
e.g I don't give 'tax advice' (I am not a qualified accountant & would not dare to do so) but I sometimes do take a bank account csv & put it in a spreadsheet & analyse it out in the expense categories for the self-assessment. It is obviously checked by the client as they have to tell me what most if it is, it's just quicker for me to do the excel thing. But that apparently is 'tax assistance' & comes under MLR.
My answers
THANK YOU SO MUCH for picking my question & expanding on it - very clearly & comprehensively. I can now go back to the group & confidently tell them the position on this.
BTW - yes, a Christmas Eve baby!
oh yes, couldn't agree more. Having had TWO HMRC AML investigations in the last few years (bad luck?), both leaving me with a feeling for some weeks afterwards that I wanted to quit entirely cos it was going to take me longer to fill in all the risk assessments every time something changed than actually doing the paid work, common sense should prevail.
This talks about directors but - & I may have missed it in a quick read - what about sole traders who also may have abused the system in a similar way?
They obviously can't be disqualified but there is surely some means of investigation & consequence?
Couldn't agree more with all of the comments so far. And so pleased to realise I'm not alone in my opinions.
I've been subject to AML audits by HMRC twice. It's a box ticking exercise at their end & I'm an easy target. My clients couldn't be less risky if they tried. I have stopped 'doing' bookkeeping (I'm not an accountant even) & now only set up online accounts systems & teach how to use it for daily transactions but that still comes under AML so I have to pay my £340 a year, pay to do verification of IDs & tick boxes on my own forms to satisfy the rules in case I get a subsequent check. Or I might get fined or prosecuted.
They'd do better spending the money to make the HMRC online systems more stable & robust & efficient & make sense!
@fijon158 yup!!!
@fijon158 yup!!!
@fijon158 yup!!!
@norstar Couldn't agree more.
Having decided in early 2020 that I no longer wanted to 'do' bookkeeping for ungrateful unappreciative clients who didnt want to pay what the work was worth, I took a break in 2020-2021 (thank you pandemic!) & for most of the last year have been slowly building a new brand, aimed at a very specific client base of self employed business owners who would come under MTD for ITSA & 2023 was to be the time to really push as the deadline loomed.
I have spent hours holding webinars, presentations, patiently answering questions, helping the clueless & scared, created courses & resources. What a waste of time.
This delay has totally blown my entire business plan for 2023 to pieces because no matter how much you try to persuade them that going digital (done right) makes it all so simple & easy & is less stress & up to date information is valuable when you make decisions about your business investment & growth, etc. blah blah, they just don't want to know. It was the mandatory requirement that was going to prove the pudding.
I know some will argue don't put all your eggs in one basket but this afternoon, I don't want really to hear it. I will lick my wounds for a few hours & then pick myself up & start again. Oh hum!
part from what Duggimon says about first checking RTI submissions & then the relevant employees tax records for employment pay in the period and wondering why any company so far behind with submissions like GHarr says, I'm puzzled as to what VAT has to do with CJRS? superfluous information?
Happy to be educated in case I missed something?
oh that would be marvellous cos getting definitive answers out of HMRC is like plaiting fog!
e.g I don't give 'tax advice' (I am not a qualified accountant & would not dare to do so) but I sometimes do take a bank account csv & put it in a spreadsheet & analyse it out in the expense categories for the self-assessment. It is obviously checked by the client as they have to tell me what most if it is, it's just quicker for me to do the excel thing. But that apparently is 'tax assistance' & comes under MLR.