You might also be interested in
Replies (22)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
The taxpayers will be able to appeal against points and penalties through their online digital account, but its not clear whether tax agents will be able to do this on behalf of their clients...
As the ones most likely to default will be those who don't understand or are unwilling users of MTD, this has a lot of potential to backfire badly and tie up the appeals process.
Most clients won't set up an online digital account. They have ZERO interest and even less incentive to do so. Being forced to do so doesn't mean many will use it, and even less likely are they to use it to do anything.
I wonder if HMRC have done any research on how much bigger the black economy will become as a result of MTD, as people decide it's all too much work and just drop out.
Edit: And are we supposed to now keep our client's log in details for these digital tax accounts too so we can access them? I have no interest in doing so. Without agent access from a central portal these digital tax accounts will be a mess.
Are you not aware that the MTD rules do not allow us agents to log into our clients' Digital Tax Accounts?
Streng Verboten!
You couldn't make it up.
Ian thanks for summing up my views entirely. We are heading into a two tiered system where those with agents will comply and those without may or may not.
HMRC need to get the agents dashboard working pdq or else its workload is going to increase further.
The tinkering as covered by Rebecca Cave is not going to work effectively if we cant have access that our clients do.
Anybody know what the penalty is for being 6 years late? Sorry, silly me, half watching the game.
30 days to file a CGT return is going to 'interesting' from two fronts:
1. Educating clients to come to us well before completion, ie at the offer accepted stage to ensure things like the purchase completion statement is available and any issues have been resolved in the computation.
2. Currently agents are excluded from completing the 'instant' CGT returns in the first place.
Here we go again, more work that achieves nothing, more time wasted on appeals, more staff needed by HMRC, more taxpayers' money to pay for it, more IT contractors needed by HMRC, more problems because IR35 will send them elsewhere, more chaos in the name of digitalisation which HMG rarely seem to get right. Dtill I suppose that it is more data that they will be able to lose, sell or otherwise exploit. Cynical? Not me just the results of experience.
Demonstrates again how detached HMRC and HM Government are from the real world.
The reality of the repercussions will be surprising for them and they will have a whole lot more to deal with to resolve, which I anticpate will take a very long time.
Accelerated tax receipts are fine if all runs smoothly, but as has been alluded to, the holes that will appear in tax revenues will be material, cue tax rises and more Brexit blame!!!
HMRC seem to be of the view that locking out agents will generate more tax as we are 'evil' and encourage clients to not pay tax. What they are failing to realise is we are doing all of the flipping work and excluding us will only make MTD a shambles!
If we are helping our clients and have full access we can fix problems. We are the best hope of making this work.
Where are you ICAEW, ACCA et al? If this were France we would be on the streets protesting by now! Perhaps that is the only way HMRC will listen.
This whole digitisation process has been a mess. I went through the last major change when the system moved to self assessment. Agents were given explanatory manuals (I still have mine), training at the local tax office (we had one then) and the change was well advertised with Hector the Inspector appearing regularly in newspapers and on TV. At the moment no-one seems to know what is going on which is pathetic and does not bode well for the future of the tax system.
Come on professional bodies. Get a grip and fight our corner and be seen to be doing so. It will be for everyone's benefit.
Shouldn't they make sure MTD actually works before working out penalties for "misuse"? Real time PAYE still doesn't work properly, tax return software still has errors.. etc.. Seems to me a half arsed rushed through cash cow.
Some anecdotal fuel.
Closing down my PAYE scheme took over 9 months because a missed return resulted in £1 of HMRC assessment of PAYE for the missed period. All the while the scheme was in credit for £250.
No returned calls, no response to letters. It required a steadfast refusal to be hung up on or called back on a 2 hour call to fix and close the scheme.
Sadly technology is being seen as an alternative to competent staff and is accompanied with an assumption that there are no edge cases and no non conforming routes through the system.
Interesting that the general tenor of this thread seems to be that HMG and HMRC are out of touch and pretty incompetent and that the ICAEW etc. are just sitting on their hands and weeping quietly to themselves so as not to upset HMRC. I suppose they are a bit detached from reality as well - I don't suppose many of them have to deal with HMRC at ground level.
The same claptrap applies to auditing and accounts production. What is the point in producing accounts to clients that have to be preceded at interview with the statement that only 5 pages matter and the rest is drivel produced by some person somewhere with nothing better to do than write notes that are not in comprehensible English and mean absolutely nothing to the reader. Didn't we have all this before with inflation accounting?
One really wonders what these bodies are really for. They certainly haven't done much for large firms' auditing standards but I bet they are beautiful box-tickers. And we do have these wonderful accounting standards for those who want them. (I have yet to meet one of those people!)
So this Bill will become law in March 2019. I wonder when? The 19th perhaps. There's not much else happening then.
"HMRC to be permitted to ask for security deposits for corporation tax and CIS deductions from 6 April 2019"
Must have missed this, please expand?