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Tony has done a great job of summarising the obvious.
When I say this, I mean that he has summarised very well what is obvious to most of us but seems to be something that HMRC and the Government seem unable to understand.
I feel that we are not getting value for money from HMRC or the Government and I would remind all that both of these entities work for us and they should be doing our bidding and not vice versa. They are not there to follow their own agendas but to follow ours and I think there is enough evidence that this is not happening.
I know that Tony has already been very active indeed in supporting our profession, and particularly the smaller businesses in it, but perhaps he could be persuaded to take a stronger stance on our behalf against the arrogant and dictatorial ways of the Government and HMRC to remind them that they are our servants and not our masters.
" ....to remind them that they are our servants and not our masters."
Regretfully they DO think they are our masters. And they will not change their beliefs.
If they worked with those who are reputable & straight rather than encouraging the dodgy with the way they work it would be a win for both of us.
The day I accept hmrc are their for the tax payer will be the same day a person who calls them with genuine concerns of raising funds to pay tax bills arnt met with rude obnoxious arrogant staff who would rather you sold your TV than set up a payment plan.
Good for Tony but the real problem is that no-one in HMRC or, indeed Government, has the slightest idea of what small business is like.
The graduates entering these institutions are products of academia not business and have little or no experience of real life.
Look at May's election manifesto - she couldn't have done more to upset her voters if she had deliberately tried to do so and the management of the campaign was , by all accounts, so bad that one shudders thinking that Politicians are actually in charge.
Our profession used to have a good relationship with HMRC - we knew the local Inspectors and they knew us and we each helped each other to keep the wheels turning and it worked well.
Then the smarty pants Chancellors got into the game and Brown and Osborne between them made such a mess of the Tax system that even HMRC doesn't understand it. The good staff at HMRC saw the writing on the wall and left - mainly for the profession, and the training of the current staff is seemingly poor as they often don't understand what they are being asked - if, that is, you are actually lucky enough to be able to speak to a human.
I assume that the rush to digitalisation is to save them having to have people at all so the situation will only get worse.
Does HMRC listen? No they don't they just shrink back behind their barriers and carry on muddling through.
Do their systems work? Not really - demands for money which has been paid - RTI not working properly - post taking 6 weeks to be answered - penalties issued where obviously none are due and so on.
Basically they have lost their grip but won't admit it and are desperately trying to find ways of recovering the situation and as they don't have experienced staff they are trying to use computers. Don't hold your breath!
The other thing that will be obvious is, that after the roll out of MTD on over vat threshold business and the subsequent success, (this will not be too difficult for us to make work) HMRC will think it's an easy job to then bring in the over £10k mob. That is where it will all go wrong.
We all know the MTD initiative was to hang joe public high and screw his ilk for a few dollars more.
Harra's comments that half the tax gap is attributed to small businesses really makes me puke. He should have added the reason - HMRC's impotence and incompetence in tackling the big boys.
Excellent, well done Tony. But unless I've missed something, why the hell is he always the only one doing the blasting ?
Why is it only Tony and the ICPA saying this kind of thing?
Why are the ACCA and ICAEW so silent - they're doing their members are massive disservice.
Ken has beat me to it,although not a member, I was actually at the ICPA event last week and you have to admire the graft Tony puts in on behalf his members and small practitioners in general.
He raises more valid points and calls it like it is, more so than all the accounting bodies put together.
Total respect for the guy and can see why he has nearly 1,000 members who signed up with him.
Certainly doesn't pull any punches.