The professional bodies appear to think it unprofessional to take a tough line on anything, even after years of experience with an organisation that is incompetent and out of control.
As someone who was once informed (by a level 6 area person who refused to reason, but merely dictate) that I was an enemy of the Self Assessment tax system, and considering that HMRC have never given me reason to re-evaluate my opinion of them and how I should "engage" with them, I can imagine which category I'll be in....assuming I'm on the scale at all.
Anything less than assured is by my direct inference, libellous.
There's an episode in itself. Government corruption of going after people who act within the law by using an established legal mechanism.
And then there is.....Money Laundering Regulations; the failure of HMRC/SOCA to act upon reports giving them the exact information needed to raise legitimate tax assessments or put criminals in jail.
Another process to increase costs and "persuade" the taxpayer into accepting HMRC's position, which inevitably arose from them acting wholly unreasonably.
If HMRC simply trained its personnel correctly and stopped promoting the troublesome officers, then disputes would reduce dramatically.
My experience of HMRC (thirty years in practice) is that they rarely admit responsibility and fight to avoid having to compensate a client suffering increased accountancy costs as a consequence their error
My experience matches that of yourself and Mr Weston. I find that the better your argument the more inclined you are to receive threats and intimidation. I find that the harshest critics of HMRC are their own staff, including quite high grade Officers of whom many are ashamed of what they have to do; and many have left.
I wouldn't say that ICAEW members think they have a god given right to charge high fees, but I do think that many of them offer a poor quality of service; irrespective of the scale of fees. Many accountants promise the World to new clients, claim fantastic customer advice/support etc, but then simply palm the job off to a clerk until the year end accounts need signing; at which time the client will get part/whole hour of time....to justify the fee. The reality is that in many cases the accountant ignores the client .... unless they're late with a paying an invoice, and fails to engage in a mutually beneficial relationship in which the client's business is helped through a high standard of quality financial management. Hardly a surprise that many people change accountants when they realise that if they're only getting fish and chips, why pay for cordon bleu?....especially when the tax system is supposed to be so easy that you just "help yourself". I could also comment on "professional" accountants continuously fouling up, either with cases of negligence, incompetence, non-existent/poor management skills, or issues of personal integrity.
....the staff at ground level who have to put up with ever more nonsense. The management are the real problem. They don't have the skills to manage and, usually, lack the personal qualities to be managers. The management mirror politicians.
... it is my view that it is common sense, for any practitioner, to advise on avoiding unnecessary taxes or advise where to go for such advice; because if you don't then you are likely to lose at least that client (on bad terms). Advising of such, in my view, is also part of offering a decent service to clients.
.... When people hide money it implies evasion....
In my experience the "hiding", or more precisely just keeping things private, has often been to head-off frivolous law suits, to enable a normal life by avoiding disclosure of their true wealth, avoiding blackmail/kidnapping/extortion etc from individuals/criminals and even Governments. The UK is one of the great ASSET havens, having, largely, a rule of law; unlike many other countries.
....they can do just that. They just need to create an internally consistent system, with a few options for politicians to bribe voters, but refrain from tinkering with the fundamentals.
My answers
"..more accountability..."
Surely accountability either exists or it does not.
Sheep
The professional bodies appear to think it unprofessional to take a tough line on anything, even after years of experience with an organisation that is incompetent and out of control.
As someone who was once informed (by a level 6 area person who refused to reason, but merely dictate) that I was an enemy of the Self Assessment tax system, and considering that HMRC have never given me reason to re-evaluate my opinion of them and how I should "engage" with them, I can imagine which category I'll be in....assuming I'm on the scale at all.
Anything less than assured is by my direct inference, libellous.
"...avoidance scheme"
There's an episode in itself. Government corruption of going after people who act within the law by using an established legal mechanism.
And then there is.....Money Laundering Regulations; the failure of HMRC/SOCA to act upon reports giving them the exact information needed to raise legitimate tax assessments or put criminals in jail.
ADR
Another process to increase costs and "persuade" the taxpayer into accepting HMRC's position, which inevitably arose from them acting wholly unreasonably.
If HMRC simply trained its personnel correctly and stopped promoting the troublesome officers, then disputes would reduce dramatically.
ditto
My experience matches that of yourself and Mr Weston. I find that the better your argument the more inclined you are to receive threats and intimidation. I find that the harshest critics of HMRC are their own staff, including quite high grade Officers of whom many are ashamed of what they have to do; and many have left.
God given right...
I wouldn't say that ICAEW members think they have a god given right to charge high fees, but I do think that many of them offer a poor quality of service; irrespective of the scale of fees. Many accountants promise the World to new clients, claim fantastic customer advice/support etc, but then simply palm the job off to a clerk until the year end accounts need signing; at which time the client will get part/whole hour of time....to justify the fee. The reality is that in many cases the accountant ignores the client .... unless they're late with a paying an invoice, and fails to engage in a mutually beneficial relationship in which the client's business is helped through a high standard of quality financial management. Hardly a surprise that many people change accountants when they realise that if they're only getting fish and chips, why pay for cordon bleu?....especially when the tax system is supposed to be so easy that you just "help yourself". I could also comment on "professional" accountants continuously fouling up, either with cases of negligence, incompetence, non-existent/poor management skills, or issues of personal integrity.
I feel sory for....
....the staff at ground level who have to put up with ever more nonsense. The management are the real problem. They don't have the skills to manage and, usually, lack the personal qualities to be managers. The management mirror politicians.
Irrespective of the law....
... it is my view that it is common sense, for any practitioner, to advise on avoiding unnecessary taxes or advise where to go for such advice; because if you don't then you are likely to lose at least that client (on bad terms). Advising of such, in my view, is also part of offering a decent service to clients.
Evasion of taxes or evasion of something else?
In my experience the "hiding", or more precisely just keeping things private, has often been to head-off frivolous law suits, to enable a normal life by avoiding disclosure of their true wealth, avoiding blackmail/kidnapping/extortion etc from individuals/criminals and even Governments. The UK is one of the great ASSET havens, having, largely, a rule of law; unlike many other countries.
Shirley....
....they can do just that. They just need to create an internally consistent system, with a few options for politicians to bribe voters, but refrain from tinkering with the fundamentals.