Politicians slam HMRC and FCA for HSBC tax evasion failure February 10, 2015 Senior MPs criticised the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Revenue and Customs (HMRC) yesterday, after it was revealed the FCA was unaware of the wrongdoing at HSBC, and that HMRC had failed to pass on its concerns to the City watchdog. The chairman of the FCA, Martin Wheatley, made a pre-arranged appearance in front of [...]
HMRC faces HSBC tax evasion grilling in parliament after it is revealed Swiss arm helped clients hide millions February 9, 2015 Tax bosses will be grilled by MPs on Wednesday over a swathe of leaked HSBC documents showing the bank's Swiss arm helped clients around the world dodge taxes. But HSBC's bosses will avoid a public hearing, because it is too close to the election to schedule new hearings. Margaret Hodge MP chairs the Public Accounts [...]
HMRC to fine 890,000 people for missing self-assessment deadline February 2, 2015 HM Revenue and Customs has said that as many as 890,000 people are facing fines for missing the deadline for submitting self-assessment returns. People who missed the deadline, which was midnight on 31 January, will be £100 out of pocket and even more if they fail to submit a self-assessment form over the course of [...]
HMRC helplines put callers seeking tax advice on hold for up to 41 minutes December 14, 2014 The government yesterday pledged to improve services for people seeking tax advice, after a survey found almost 30 per cent of calls to two helplines were cut off. The consumer watchdog Which? found 29 out of 100 callers seeking advice before a tax return deadline received instead an automated message. Callers were put on hold [...]
“HMRC must do more, faster”: Slow action on tax avoidance is losing UK money, report claims November 17, 2014 The government department tasked with chasing tax avoidance schemes and recovering the cash is too slow, resulting in millions being lost, a report out today claims. The Public Accounts Committee looked into the process HM Revenue and Customs follows to recover tax lost through avoidance schemes and found that up to £10m from one particular [...]
British American Tobacco whacked with £650,000 fine by HMRC for “oversupplying” Belgium cigarette market November 13, 2014 British American Tobacco (BAT) has been hit with a fine of £650,000 by HM Revenue & Customs for oversupplying cigarettes to Belgium, which has substantially lower tobacco taxes than Britain. Apparently, that causes more low-cost cigarettes to be smuggled into the UK. According to papers seen by the Wall Street Journal, it is the first [...]
HMRC recovers record £3.65bn in unpaid taxes from avoidance schemes, evasion and fraud November 9, 2014 A record amount of unpaid tax has been recovered from avoidance schemes, evasion and fraud by HMRC’s top team of specialist investigators – up by almost a quarter in the past year, says Pinsent Masons, the international law firm. According to Pinsent Masons, the compliance yield from HMRC’s specialist investigations team hit £3.65bn in 2013/14, [...]
Taxi app Uber referred to HMRC by TfL over tax complaint by Margaret Hodge October 15, 2014 Uber, the smartphone taxi app, has been referred to HM Revenue & Customers by London’s taxi and minicab regulator Transport for London (TfL). The referral follows a complaint by Labour MP Margaret Hodge that Uber’s Dutch operating firm Uber BV does not pay tax in the UK and was “opting out of the UK tax [...]
Will I get a tax rebate or do I have to pay more back? HMRC statement error affects thousands October 9, 2014 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is sending out second tax statements to thousands of people, asking them to pay back their tax rebates because of initial miscalculations. Earlier this year, millions of people received notifications that they had paid the wrong about in tax for the year ending in April. Reasons given by [...]
Margaret Hodge hops off HMRC tax roller coaster after bump with motorbike September 17, 2014 Labour MP Margaret Hodge failed to appear at the launch of a book by BDO partner Daniel Dover last night, pulling out as guest speaker at the last minute. Hosts BDO were given little explanation as to why the chair of the Public Accounts Committee wouldn’t be turning up to talk tax, undeniably her favourite [...]